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DukeEngage Gateway Program

Open to all incoming first-year students

Consistent with Duke’s longstanding commitment to the global public good, the DukeEngage Gateway summer program is a call to action in students’ communities around the world. Open to all incoming first-year Duke undergraduates, the program invites students into the Duke community of engaged peers, faculty and alumni and affords an opportunity to tackle a social problem in their hometown while also beginning to explore their own sense of purpose in the world.

**The Gateway program is an offspring of DukeEngage (a program open to current undergraduates). Information found on the rest of this website pertains to DukeEngage, not to the Gateway Program. Please contact us with questions: dukeengage@duke.edu.

A Gateway Program student will:

  • Spend at least 100 hours in their home community, over a minimum of five weeks in the summer before arriving at Duke, engaged in a project they have arranged in collaboration with a local organization. Please note that, in accordance with the 2024 Duke Minors Policy, DukeEngage cannot approve projects in which participants will be working with minors. Also, traditional academic research, while it may be ultimately valuable to communities, is generally not appropriate for DukeEngage programs. 
  • Participate in a virtual orientation + training session on the principles and ethics of community engagement
  • Have the opportunity to travel to Durham to participate in a four-day, in-person Gateway welcome gathering at Duke led by Kenan and DukeEngage staff
  • Participate in weekly programming (one or two sessions per week) to explore the challenges of community engagement and strategies for both making sustainable relationships and maximizing impact. Programming will consist of at least three virtual reflection workshops led by Duke faculty, plus weekly conversations with Duke partner organizations and others.
  • Share their summer work at a September welcome brunch for fellow participants
  • Receive a $1500 stipend for participating. (Please note that Gateway program participants are not allowed to accept compensation from their partner organization. Also, the stipend will be paid to participants when they have matriculated to Duke, after the start of the fall semester. Participants for whom this will cause financial strain should email Inga Peterson, Associate Director of Operations, at inga.peterson@duke.edu).

 

2026 Dates

Application opens: Apr 13th

Application Deadline: May 15th

Application Notifications: Week of May 18th

Commitments Due: May 27th

Orientation: Week of June 15th

“Gateway: Summer School” welcome gathering retreat: Week of June 21st

Summer Programming (Community Lunches & Reflection Groups):  July 6th– Aug 7th

 

Ready to Apply?

 

The Gateway 2026 Application will be posted in Spring 2026

*Gateway will not fund projects that are led solely by students. Gateway projects must be conducted in partnership with a local organization that is separate from the student’s own venture or initiative. (i.e. a student created or led non-profit)

2025 Gateway Students

Bahar Alkan (Adana, Türkiye)

Organization: Understanding Europe Türkiye

This summer, Bahar worked with Understanding Europe Türkiye, a youth-led organization that empowers young people through civic education. She organized the Summer Training for Trainers (T4T) in İstanbul, coordinating logistics, managing the budget, and training new facilitators who will bring workshops to students across Türkiye. Following the event, she prepared financial reports for the Schwarzkopf Foundation and supported the transition of responsibilities to incoming coordinators. She also collaborated with the international team on preparations for the upcoming Transnational T4T, contributing to program design, logistical needs, cultural elements, and resource planning for the major network-wide event.

Emma Allison (Wellington, Florida)

Organization: Big Dog Ranch Rescue

This summer, Emma volunteered with Big Dog Ranch and Rescue, the United States’ largest no-kill shelter. She spent most of her time in the Senior Sanctuary facility, which aimed to rehabilitate senior dogs and give them a better chance of being adopted. Emma’s goal was to improve the efficiency of taking care of dogs and getting them adopted. Her duties included distributing medicine and food to the dogs, bathing them, cleaning their rooms, and rotating dog groups outside. Emma also assisted in some organizational respects by updating various dog profiles and taking note of any peculiar behaviors that could impact their adoptability.

Silvio Antunes (São Paulo, Brazil)

Organizations: Mapa Educação, Todos Pela Educação, DEISA Itapetininga, Câmara dos Vereadores de Itapetininga e Secretaria Municipal de Educação. 

This summer, Silvio Antunes drafted a policy recommendation dedicated to improving access to inclusive education in primary public schools in his hometown of Itapetininga, São Paulo, Brazil. Through legalization analysis, he organized data on best practices and legislation. His work involved conducting interviews with key stakeholders, including professors, congresspersons, and representatives from NGOs, to identify gaps and opportunities. Ultimately, Silvio’s efforts culminated in a comprehensive policy brief designed to provide actionable strategies to local officials, contributing directly to the city’s educational development.

Simran Choudhury (Orlando, Florida)

Organization: ORMC Volunteer Services

This summer, Simran volunteered at a downtown hospital, where she collaborated with staff to create a new volunteer position that allows teens to work throughout the hospital rather than staying in one role. This change improved efficiency for staff while giving volunteers broader experience. In addition, Simran updated the hospital’s volunteer software to allow more units to request aid. Her responsibilities included assisting with nurse rounding, answering call lights, stocking supplies, supporting guest services, and aiding with lab processing.

Lila Cohen (Davie, Florida)

Organization: Broward Partnership Homeless Shelter

This summer, Lila volunteered with Broward Partnership for the Homeless across their two South Florida locations. Her work focused on donation management, including facilitating in-person collections and tracking in-kind contributions. In addition, she served meals, guided large volunteer groups through a variety of projects, and managed the organization’s social media accounts, creating content to raise awareness of Broward Partnership’s mission and upcoming fundraisers.

Tyler Conforti (Winston-Salem, North Carolina)

Organization: Crosby Scholars

This summer, Tyler collaborated with the college-access non-profit organization, Crosby Scholars (based in Winston-Salem North Carolina). He was assigned to the marketing and development team where he created videos for our social media pages. These videos ranged from short-form educational skits to long-form testimonials interviews with Crosby alumni. Tyler was able to bring a youthful energy to Crosby’s social media pages and, thereby, help students engage more with the program.

Joseph Delgado (Miami, Florida)

Organization: Baptist Hospital of Miami

This summer, Joseph volunteered at Baptist Health Baptist Hospital, a hospital in Miami. Joseph worked with nurses, volunteers, and volunteer coordinators to increase the efficiency of Baptist’s volunteer program. Besides transporting patients and managing patient charts himself, Joseph also interviewed patients & faculty and suggested ways to improve the program.

Arjun Desai  (Shreveport, Louisiana)

Organization: Lifepath Hospice

This summer, Arjun worked with Lifepath Hospice in Shreveport, Louisiana, to increase community engagement and outreach. With the organization, he helped create new outreach materials and connected with local schools to encourage volunteer participation. Additionally, he spoke at a college advising event advocating for volunteers on behalf of Lifepath. Furthermore, he continued to perform hospice sitting services for patients with life expectancies of six months or less.

Jimmy Helferty (Malvern, Pennsylvania)

Organization: Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation 

This summer, Jimmy interned at Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation (PATF), a nonprofit that provides financial education and interest-free loans for people with disabilities. He promoted PATF’s Cents and Sensibility curriculum to local schools, in response to recent personal finance course mandates, and contacted PA intermediate units. Jimmy also analyzed data collected from teachers and attended numerous community events, such as the West Philadelphia ADA Celebration, Temple University’s AT meetup, and a radio show live on WWDB.

Anusha Kamath  (Raleigh, North Carolina)

Organization: The Women’s Business Center of North Carolina

This summer, Anusha interned at the Women’s Business Center of North Carolina, a program of the National Institute of Minority Economic Development that supports women and minority entrepreneurs. Anusha connected with clients during follow-up calls to gather impact data for grant reporting and feedback on the center’s processes, organized contact data in Salesforce and Excel, and assisted with planning workshops and events. She also shadowed the Executive Director at the 2025 Executive Networking Conference to gain insight into nonprofit leadership and entrepreneurship support.

Jackson Kitts  (Rupert, Vermont)

Organization: Merck Forest & Farmland Center

This summer, I interned with Merck Forest and Farmland Center (MFFC), supporting both the communications team and farm crew. I assisted with social media strategy and content creation, taking captivating photos and videos of the 3,500-acre area. One of my major projects involved covering MFFC’s 75th anniversary event. Additionally, I supported farm operations by learning to use heavy machinery, tending to the animals, and installing fencing.

Asha Kumar  (Chapel Hill, North Carolina)

Organization: Ignite Learners Program

This summer, Asha worked with Ignite, a free engineering design program for middle school students in Durham, North Carolina. She conducted data analyses of student survey results from past years to identify strengths and weaknesses in the curricula, helping guide future improvements. In addition, she developed bilingual (English–Spanish) materials, including weekly parent updates, an infographic, and a translated website. These changes will expand access to Ignite, enabling more families to participate in and fully engage with the program.

Rohith Kumar  (Brookfield, Wisconsin)

Organization: Wisconsin Shirdi Sai

Over the summer, I worked with Wisconsin Shirdi Sai to analyze multi-year transaction data, identifying donors with high potential. Because I realized that popular services could be given as rewards, I developed a donor app that showed transaction history and had a multi-tiered reward system. I also created marketing materials and presentations to prepare for an upcoming fundraising event with the donors I identified.

Leena Mirchandani  (Wall, New Jersy)

Organization: Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore

This summer, Leena worked with Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore to create and implement a novel mentorship program. She created a structure for this program, made mentorship guides and workbooks for participants, generated interest forms, and matched mentors and mentees based on their interests. Additionally, Leena created digital messaging and promotional materials that were sent out to the Girl Scouts community to garner interest in this program. This program will allow community members to foster meaningful connections and create personal relationships.

Weiyee Mock  (Brooklyn, New York)

Organization: Apex for Youth

This summer, Weiyee worked with Apex for Youth, a nonprofit that empowers Asian American youth from low-income and immigrant backgrounds. Weiyee wanted to provide support to those with limited access to resources and build a welcoming community beyond mentorship. She worked with their college access team to plan a future family engagement night and researched material for a college success retreat. She also revamped their college visit support fliers, mapped out regions the program could go for college visits, and developed a “How to Apply to College 101” manual for under-resourced individuals.

Mohid Moneeb  (Islamabad, Pakistan)

Organization: Special Olympics Pakistan

This summer, Mohid worked with Special Olympics Pakistan, an organization he has engaged with during high school, to support individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities through inclusive education and sports programming. At Mohid’s school placement, he organized activities that built confidence, encouraged teamwork, and promoted social inclusion among students with disabilities. Beyond the classroom, he participated in the Unified Hike, attended the Youth Leaders Summit, and spent a week in Lahore learning from and contributing to community programs. These experiences deepened Mohid’s understanding of advocacy and inclusion, while allowing me to help advance Special Olympics’ mission of empowering people with disabilities to reach their full potential.

Varun Mukund (Dallas, TX)

Organization: Texas Criminal District Court 6

This summer, Varun interned with Judge Nancy Mulder in the Dallas Criminal District Court 6, supporting daily court operations and the S.T.A.R. Court diversion program. The program serves female probationers who were involved in the sex trade and also struggle with addiction. Varun assisted with legal research, file organization, clerking, and preparing the courtroom for biweekly probationer visits. He also assisted in connecting participants with essential resources like housing, employment, and basic necessities.

Emily Pabalate  (Raleigh, North Carolina)

Organization: Urban Ministries of Wake County

This summer, Emily worked with Urban Ministries of Wake County in their Open Door Clinic to provide medical assistance to those in need. She served as the first point of contact for patients, triaging and facilitating referrals for specialty care outside the clinic’s scope. Emily also guided patients through the clinic process, making sure they felt comfortable and supported during their visits. Her work gave her the chance to build personal connections with patients while easing the workload of the medical staff and improving the efficiency of patient intake.

Jayen Patel  (Tampa, Florida)

Organization: Hillsborough Education Foundation

This summer, Jayen worked with the Hillsborough Education Foundation in Tampa, FL. With guidance from the Teaching Tools Resource Center, he enhanced the STEAM Lending Library Program. He aligned the STEAM Lending Library kits with the Florida State Science Standards to improve learning in the classroom. In addition, he checked out a record number of kits over this summer to teachers.

Jessica Perez  (Miami, Florida)

Organization: ARC Dialysis Kendall

This summer, Jessica worked at ARC Dialysis, where she supported patients undergoing hemodialysis. She assisted with patient check-ins, prepared treatment areas, and provided companionship by doing crossword puzzles, word searches, and engaging in conversation with patients to help ease the long treatment hours. Jessica also collaborated with clinic staff to maintain an organized and welcoming environment, ensuring that patients received both attentive care and emotional support throughout their treatments.

Meena Puram  (Solon, Ohio)

Organization: Environmental Health Watch

This summer, Meena interned at Environmental Health Watch to look for pathways to support urban residents with improving home energy infrastructure and broaden clean energy initiatives in the downtown area in the transportation and circular economy sectors. She compiled a list of case studies in other large cities around the world, reviewing previous successful Eco-Village initiatives and evaluating their effectiveness and plausibility to implement locally. Additionally, she attended meetings with Buckeye Neighborhood residents and planning sessions for FreshFest CLE, an annual music and wellness festival projected to host almost 15,000 Clevelanders this September.

Maya Puterman  (New York City, New York)

Organization: Riley’s Way Foundation

This summer, Maya worked with Riley’s Way Foundation in New York City. She updated and expanded the Call for Kindness curriculum by creating interactive workshops on topics such as storytelling, branding, social media strategy, and AI for good. In addition, Maya researched and proposed an alumni engagement platform, launched a newsletter, assisted with social media and partnership outreach, and coordinated a summer networking meetup for Fellows in the tri-state area.

Reeha Rahman  (Alpharetta, Georgia)

Organization: Meals By Grace

This summer, Reeha partnered with Meals by Grace, a food delivery nonprofit serving families across Forsyth County, Georgia. She launched a bilingual, enrichment-based program that paired weekly grocery deliveries with summer learning materials for over 150 students. To support the initiative, she organized Walmart weekend drives that collected 18 carts of school supplies, ensuring each delivery included both educational resources and necessary school supplies. She also developed a sustainable implementation toolkit, and many families reported the program kept students engaged with learning throughout the summer.

Krish Ramesh  (Waxhaw, North Carolina)

Organization: Fort Mill History Museum

My Duke Engage Gateway project was centered around creating more awareness for my community’s rich local history, primarily through conducting primary research and working on accessible means to access said research. I researched the history of Main Street, Fort Mill, and uncovered the histories of each of the historic buildings registered by the National Historic Landmarks register. After completing the research, I worked alongside the museum to create scannable QR codes that were posted in front of the businesses on Main Street, allowing pedestrians to scan the codes and learn more about the building they were visiting.

Reese Ritter  (Rolesville, North Carolina)

Organization: Foster Hope of North Carolina

This summer, Reese worked with Foster Hope of North Carolina and a few other Raleigh, NC nonprofits to support the work of those dedicated to supporting foster children in Wake County. Reese searched for grants, read through foster parent autobiographies, reached out to local and state leaders, organized supply closets, connected nonprofits to churches for supply drives, and many other odd jobs. This took time-consuming tasks away from the nonprofits themselves so they could focus more on the foster kids they were serving, while simultaneously getting important administrative tasks done.

Gregory Sachan  (Raleigh, North Carolina)

Organization: NC American Red Cross

This summer, Gregory volunteered with the NC American Red Cross to participate in various activities that supported community outreach. With the Greater Triangle Area Chapter (GTAC) of the NC American Red Cross, he worked on creating a contact information database that contains the contact information for various elected or appointed officials located in the counties covered by GTAC. Creating this database helps streamline the NC Red Cross’s communications with local communities, as this contact information can be used to help organize community efforts. In addition, Gregory volunteered to help recruit blood donors for two American Red Cross Blood Drives, encouraging donations that can support many throughout the local community.

Joseph Song (Columbia, South Carolina)

Organization: Midlands Orthopaedics Surgery Center

This summer, Joseph helped to increase the efficiency of Midlands Orthopedics and Neuroscience by assisting in the Operating Room. There, he aided the preparation process pre-surgery and clean up post-surgery to decrease OR turnover time. He was also trained to organize medical inventory. Finally, Joseph connected the hospital with his high school to provide students with an interest in medicine an internship opportunity.

Gabrielle Soto-Allison  (Linwood, North Carolina)

Organization: Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center—Winston-Salem, NC Location

This summer, Gabrielle worked with hospital staff at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center to recruit new musical volunteers. In addition to continuing to play the clarinet at the hospital for patients, Gabrielle created a variety of flyers to recruit musical hospital volunteers that she then posted around the local area. Gabrielle also did rounding on the different hospital floors, which consists of visiting patients in their rooms, having a conversation with them, and offering them some items from a hospitality cart.

Zaki Yousofi  (Sacramento, California)

Organization: REDA: Refugee Enrichment & Development Association

This summer, Zaki worked as a case manager with the Refugee Enrichment & Development Association (REDA) in Sacramento. He helped families with paperwork and documentation so they could access housing, healthcare, and schools. Over the summer, he supported more than 60 families, learning how small, steady efforts can ease stress and create stability. The experience gave Zaki a deeper understanding of the challenges families face when starting over.