DukeEngage will reopen applications for the Durham group program to fill spots made available by vacancies in the individual program.
Although the program had planned to fund up to 99 individual projects this summer, only 78 were accepted, DukeEngage Director of Communications Eric Van Danen wrote in an e-mail. He cited more rigorous standards in granting funding to individual projects as the reason for the decrease.
Overall, DukeEngage has accepted about 355 students to participate in group and individual projects. But with space for up to 375 students, program officials decided to fill extra slots for the Durham group program with the Community Service Center, DukeEngage Director Eric Mlyn said. Applications for additional spots in the Durham program are due March 16.
"We have always been committed to having more students in Durham than any of our other sites," Mlyn said. "Because we had a fairly rigorous process of approving [individual] projects this year, we have slots available, and we wanted them in Durham because that's where our priority should be."
There was a 9 percent increase overall in the number of applications this year. But of the 30 slots available for the Durham program, only 26 have been filled so far. Mlyn said the open spaces are not the result of a lack of initial applicants, noting that there were a few students who were not accepted to the Durham program last month. The goal now is to accept approximately 10 more students to the Durham program, he added.
The Durham group program immerses participants in full-time summer internships with local nonprofit agencies, providing hands-on experience related to social, cultural, economic and environmental issues in the city. Students also live on campus, attend orientations and training sessions and take local excursions.
Because the application deadline for DukeEngage group programs was earlier this year than last year, the extended Durham program deadline will serve as a second chance for students to apply who may have previously been unsure of summer plans, Van Danen said.
"We're optimistic that we'll see a favorable response from students who are interested in spending eight weeks of their summer serving the Durham community through DukeEngage-particularly those who are drawn to volunteer service that benefits disadvantaged youth," he said.
But not everyone shares Van Danen's enthusiasm. Sophomore Laura Hart, a Chronicle wire staff member, submitted an individual project proposal to work with orphans in Morocco but was not accepted into the DukeEngage program. Still, she said she does not see the Durham program as an alternative.
"The reason I did an individual project was because I wanted to go abroad and because I physically couldn't do the group projects since the dates didn't work for me," Hart said. "I also don't want to be in Durham. I'll be living here for four years, I don't want to be here again for the summer."
Hart added that she thinks her project was not approved because the package would have cost DukeEngage $7,000 to send her to Morocco for eight weeks. Individual project participants received that amount as a blanket sum, but funding for the projects will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
Mlyn said that the decision to accept fewer individual projects and reopen admissions for the Durham group program did not result from funding issues. DukeEngage spends about $4,000 per student participating in the Durham group program, an amount which Mlyn said is on par with how much funding the average individual project participant is expected to receive.
"Overall, we had twice as many applications as we could fund," he said. "It's just that we had an interview component this year.... I think the bar has gotten a little higher. [The individual project is] a very hard thing to do, and we want to make sure students are prepared and ready for the challenging experiences."
Julia Love and Shuchi Parikh contributed reporting.
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