Playing ball

While many seniors are content to leave Duke with a diploma and fond memories, two seniors are hoping to start a tradition of community involvement that will continue for years after they become alumni.

Public policy majors Adam Grossman and Jared Weinstein have helped bridge the rift between the Duke and Durham communities by raising funds for the Durham Bulls Youth Athletic League, a struggling baseball league for inner-city children ages six to 15. The seniors are now looking for other students to continue their work.

This summer, Grossman and Weinstein helped organize a charity auction with the Durham Bulls to raise money for equipment and uniforms for the league. The silent auction was held Aug. 3 during the intermission of a Bulls game. "The auction raised close to $6,000, and that's really going to benefit the kids," Grossman said.

Auction items included a basketball and Sports Illustrated championship issue signed by Shane Battier, Mike Dunleavy and Chris Duhon. The latter item raised the largest donation from the crowd--$600.

The auction money added to the $15,500 Baseball Tomorrow Fund grant the two students received from the Major League Baseball Players' Association last spring.

Grossman and Weinstein began their involvement with the league as part of a project for a leadership course they took in spring 2000.

"The assignment for the course was to come up with a new venture that would serve the community around them--Duke and Durham," said Anthony Brown, the professor of the practice of public policy studies who taught the course. The seniors said they did not know what to do at first but that fate seemed to guide them toward the league.

"We knew we wanted to do something with baseball and kids, so we drove around Durham and found ourselves at a suburban baseball league game," Grossman said. After talking to a parent at the game, the two learned of an urban league lacking volunteers and funding.