My road to Duke was an unlikely one.  Growing up, I never had a college that I was dying to attend, but I was certain it was not going to be Duke.  After all, both of my parents and about 20 other relatives (not an exaggeration) all went to UNC.  I applied to Duke because it seemed like it could be a good fit, but I still didn’t think I was going to end up here.  Then one day, I got a call that I was a finalist for the Benjamin N. Duke Scholarship.

            As I discovered during finalist weekend last year, Duke offers everything I was looking for in a college.  What stood out about Duke to me was opportunity.  This ranged from the prospect of a wide variety of classes and activities to the chance to meet so many new people with interests and backgrounds different from my own.  And of course there is Duke basketball.  Though I was raised as a fan of that other school down the road in Chapel Hill, I have quickly become a Cameron Crazie.  I’m currently coming down the home stretch of a month and a half of tenting in K-ville for the UNC game.

            I started off my first semester on Project Wild, a pre-orientation trip where we backpacked in the North Carolina mountains for two weeks.  It was an amazing experience and definitely helped create a smooth adjustment to college, allowing me to make a lot of friends before I arrived at Duke.  Currently, I’m taking the PWild house course because I am interested in possibly becoming part of the PWild staff.  I have also been volunteering through WOODS, an after-school program that teaches elementary school kids about the environment.  In addition, I am tutoring a fifth-grader at a nearby elementary school for a service-learning class.  I have definitely taken advantage of the wide variety of classes that Duke has to offer.  After taking a heavy math and science load last semester, I am now trying out some different courses including a visual arts class and an education class.  So far, some of my best memories are just the random moments that you have with people, whether it’s waiting in line and getting pumped up for a basketball game, walking up to Ninth Street in the rain to go to dinner, or just having a conversation in the hall of my dorm at 2 am.

            The B. N. Duke program to me is more than just a scholarship.  It’s a family, a community of people with similar values yet varied interests who are always there to support one another.  It’s an even greater opportunity than Duke already provides, helping me to grow more passionate, driven, and inspired.  I just hope that I can live up to all of these opportunities that are being provided to me.