With opportunities to serve against the backdrop of the rice paddies of Hanoi or the imperial palaces of St. Petersburg, some students may find the prospect of lending a helping hand in home, sweet Durham to be a bit ho-hum.
International service programs like DukeEngage and the Women's Institute of Secondary Education and Research have debuted to the tune of millions of dollars in funding and avid student interest within the past two years. But these exotic opportunities may be stealing the spotlight from volunteer efforts in the Bull City.
"[Serving abroad] is what's hot right now," said senior Hans Buder, student council co-director of the Community Service Center. "People see it as the sexier option."
About 270 students will participate in DukeEngage programs abroad this summer, and about 75 more are working in the U.S. with WISER to promote women's education in Muhuru Bay, Kenya.
As a part of DukeEngage in Bangladesh, freshman Robert Lehman will work with the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, a leader in microfinance and sustainable development, to gather first-person narratives about the program's impact on client livelihood.
"I wanted to experience something completely different and outside of my comfort zone," he said. "I feel like I'm growing as a person and helping to develop a community that needs help."
But Buder said there is no shortage of volunteer opportunities for service-minded students in Durham.
"There are a lot of people who have it pretty hard here," he said. "You don't have to go to Sub-Saharan Africa to help."
Although Durham-centric service programs often fly under the radar, they have not been wanting for volunteers, Buder said. The number of students involved in community service in Durham increased this year: Of the 51 service groups registered with the Office of Student Affairs and Facilities, 31 focus on bettering Durham.
Gayle LeCroy, a fourth grade teacher at Hillandale Elementary School in Durham, said the long-term involvement of Duke volunteers has been a positive influence in the lives of her students. More than 50 members of Wayne Manor volunteer at the school each week, coaching a chess club, tutoring students in math and Spanish and offering administrative support.
"I don't know where I could find better role models for my students," LeCroy said. "[The volunteers] are extremely important to me, the other teachers involved in our program, our administration, our [Parent-Teacher Association] and especially to the children who look up to them as 'big brothers.'"
Sophomore Brianne Connolly is one student who bridges the Duke service divide-. She will participate in DukeEngage in Peru this summer but said her experience mentoring a sixth grader at the Emily Krzyzewski Family Life Center may be more rewarding.
"Once you go back [to Duke], there's a period where you're changed by the experience, but then you get back in the Duke bubble and you just forget about it because you're not there," she said. "Going abroad for that short time, people feel more rewarded immediately. Unfortunately, I worry for a lot of kids that once they do that, that's it for them."
Although DukeEngage's mission is to fund student service at home and abroad, a member of the DukeEngage board noted that the program has resembled the Peace Corps more than the AmeriCorps in its early years, said Sam Miglarese, director of community engagement for the Office of Federal Relations and Community Affairs.
Junior Jim Davy, former director of Project BUILD, said he applied only to DukeEngage in Durham to unite his service experiences during and between semesters at the University. He will be one of about 30 students participating in DukeEngage programs in Durham this summer. About 60 more students will volunteer domestically in Seattle, Wash., New Orleans, La. and Tucson, Ariz., Miglarese said.
Even global organizations are acting locally. WISER's primary focus is to provide scholarships to 12 Kenyan girls, but WISER President Emily Matthews, a sophomore, said the group will also teach a house course in Chapel Hill to empower young women living in low-income neighborhoods.
"There's great need abroad... but there's great need here, too-. Students need to recognize both," she said. "We like the idea of being able to make a difference in the Triangle and then in the summer go to WISER and connect the two. I think that's very powerful."
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