DukeEngage | Duke Center for Civic Engagement

photo by Eric Van Danen

 International student Bengisu Kuscu is among seven students volunteering through community partner Amizade in Crownpoint, N.M., to help prepare students of the Navajo Nation for college.  She explains what drew her to this college preparatory program and what she hopes to learn through her service.

1.  What drew you to this particular program or project?

As an international student, I remember being very confused during the college application process. When I read the program description for DukeEngage in Crownpoint, I thought I could use my experiences to help out others who might be going through similar things. I was especially excited about this particular community because I don't know a lot about its culture or history, and I thought this would be a great opportunity to learn about tribal  culture directly from members of the Navajo Nation.

2.  What excited you about working with your community partner?

The program description excited me because it  was something I could manage with my current skill sets as a college  student. As I learn more about the project, I feel that Amizade is  considerate of what we can do and what the community needs, and I'm looking forward to working with them.

3.  What benefit do you hope your service will have for your community partner and your host community?

My goal is to be able to have a lasting impact on the high school  students I will be working with by preparing them for college  applications and their life there, and hopefully creating a cycle where they will help each other and the younger students be successful  in the college process.

4.  How do you hope to put into action what you learned through your DukeEngage experience once back at Duke?

I'm hoping this project will teach me how to effectively address people's needs, as well as how to have a successful relationship with a new community--two skills I believe I will need as someone hoping to work with similar communities in the future.

DukeEngage is featuring 18 students over the course of the summer participating in both group programs and independent projects.  Check back weekly to view the latest student profile.

Student-athletes from Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will participate in a program being launched this summer that uses sports camps to inspire and prepare youth around the world for higher education. The Coach for College program will be piloted for six weeks this summer in Vietnam. It will involve student-athletes working alongside host-country college students majoring in physical education. Together they will conduct sports clinics for middle-school children ages 11-15 over two three-week camps, using a multi-function “all-sports court” built on the grounds of the partner middle school before the program begins.

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