In the following profiles, two students share how DukeEngage programs helped them to connect to communities on the ground — and to build new ones at Duke.
Catherine Murphy
Catherine Murphy T’27 participated in DukeEngage’s Gateway program, a summer program where incoming freshmen work with their home communities to tackle a social problem and begin to explore their own sense of purpose. For her community organization, Murphy worked with the Ronald McDonald House closest to her hometown in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The Ronald McDonald House of Springfield is a community organization that has provided thousands of families with a home away from home while their children undergo specialized medical treatment. Having volunteered at the House for eight years, Murphy had a longstanding relationship with the organization and was in a position to make the strongest impact there.
With the Gateway program’s support, Murphy was able to take on a more substantial role at the House. During the summer, she played an important role in the organization’s main golf fundraiser. She secured sponsorships from previous donors and local businesses, created and managed the budget spreadsheet, and led the raffle. She also cooked meals, prepared rooms, and helped ensure that the families staying at the House were comfortable and taken care of.
Murphy said she was particularly grateful for this opportunity because her family spent months in a Ronald McDonald House when she was a child while she was receiving treatment for a rare neurological disorder. “I know what they are going through, and I appreciate all the support that the volunteers and staff pour in,” she said.
For Murphy, this program “eased her transition” into college by providing her with a community of fellow students and faculty. She has found ways to continue community engagement at Duke through Duke eNable, a student-run organization that aims to provide local amputees with 3D printed adaptive devices free of charge.
Matthew Joo
Matthew Joo T’26 and nine other Duke students traveled to Seoul with DukeEngage Korea to teach English in an alternative grade school located in a low-income area. Joo worked closely with children of all ages and adult refugees from all over the world, many from neighboring countries of North Korea, China and Russia. The principal of the school was so impressed with the students that, in a speech at the end of the program, he offered them full-time teaching positions if they came back after graduation.
Born in South Korea but raised in the United States, Joo was grateful for the opportunity to reconnect with his culture through his time in DukeEngage. “I always wanted to experience an international education, and DukeEngage was the first stepping stone to studying abroad,” he said. He also said that the experience tied into his studies as an International Comparative Studies major.
During their time in South Korea, the DukeEngage cohort regularly engaged in discussions about Korean politics and culture through weekly group dinners. Joo says he made lifelong friendships with his cohort and they still have dinner together on a regular basis. He also became a research assistant for one of the professors who directed the DukeEngage program, Professor Nayoung Aimee Kwon of the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Department. Joo said that DukeEngage can “open your eyes to all the resources available at Duke after your experience.”
“The connection I have with my professors, my peers, and the people in Korea are things that made the summer so invaluable for me,” he said.