Duke Students of 2019

“I’ve been thinking a lot about religion. So much of what we are going through right now is repetition of what has happened in the past. And how we have resolved issues in the past is through referencing our sacred texts.” [Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks] 

“The first year was kind of rough. I'm an international student, so coming here was a bit of cultural shock. When I went back home for winter break and I came back, I realized that I wasn't having a good of a time as I thought I was. I was really missing home. Second semester, I really found my people. I found my friends. I found the people I was going to block with. I was with them during LDOC. After a whole year of working hard, it was a great day. I just remember being with all of them and being very happy. [I was happiest at Duke] at LDOC.”

“First semester freshmen year, I took Multi, 212. I was thinking about withdrawing and I didn't. I honestly wish I did. I don't even need multi anymore. I thought I was going to be a stats major and I'm not even a stats major anymore. Suffering through multi just sucked. I thought I needed. When I realized I didn't, I was super, super sad.”

“My grandma has been a huge part of my life. She has always encouraged me, always pushed me. She's really, really smart, but just because she grew up in a tiny town in rural Kansas in the 30s, she just didn't have any opportunities. She's so inspiring. She's really, really pushed me because she didn't have the opportunities that I do. She's the only reason I'm at Duke partially because she pushed my parents to let me do things I would have never have done without her, but then also because she's helped me a lot financially. She'd never actually been to Duke. I told her all these great things about it. She had this amazing idea that Duke is like the pinnacle. But, then spring semester of my senior year when I got into Duke, she was actually in the hospital. She had open heart surgery. She was in cardiac ICU for a month. You're not supposed to be in there for more than a week. She was dying. I never thought she would be able to make it because she couldn't even walk across a room for months. But, she finally got better. She finally got to the point where she was able to walk long enough distances so she could fly out and I got to show her around the campus and show her where I was doing all the different things that I told her about. It was really special.”

“I worked here over the summer. It was kind of lonely over the summer because there was just kids taking classes, but other than that, it was pretty deserted. After work, I would get food and then, go to the Tennis Stadium, Ambler Outdoors. If you climb to the top of it, sit up there, put your feet up, eat pizza and watch the sunset, that was probably one of my highlights. I did that a few times over the summer.”

“Freshman fall, I just run through my first week of midterms and after I'd thought they all went well, none of them actually went well. I finished below average in all three tests. I felt really sad because by this time, I had really grown used to Duke and I really enjoyed being on campus. The thought that my academic performance was not going to afford me the ability to stay here was very saddening to me. But, I got over it and I continued to do better. I'm still here.”