Monica Carlson: Shoes for the Shoeless of Africa

When Duke history professor Ole Holsti visited his daughter in Africa during her Peace Corps service, he couldn't help but notice that many local residents wore old running shoes.

That may explain why Holsti, a long-distance runner himself, got so excited when he learned about a project that graduating senior Monica Carlson initiated on campus three years ago.

As a sophomore, Carlson heard about a student-led program at Rice University where old running shows were collected, repaired, sized and shipped to Kenya, a country blessed with distance runners, but not wealth. Carlson, a biology major from Shelbyville, Ky., thought she and the other members of the Duke Roadrunners, a group of students and employees who run together nearly every day, could do something similar in Durham.

"It sounded like something that could be done here and should be done here," she said. "There are a lot of people here who buy shoes, run in them once or twice and then get rid of them."

In Kenya, she added, "The need is very great. They especially need running shoes, because running is one of the sports they do very well," and many young people want to take part.

After consulting with the Rice student who came up with the idea, Carlson organized a shoe drive at Duke. Signs were posted around campus and collection boxes were set up inside Card Gym, the Bryan Center and the Brodie Recreation Center on East Campus. Collection boxes also were set up at local road races. One Durham Academy teacher heard about the effort and rounded up 30 pairs. By the end of the semester, more than 120 pairs of running shoes had been collected.

The Kenya shoe drive has been repeated each of the last two years, with similar results.

Holsti, who met Carlson through Duke Roadrunners, calls her a natural leader who is genuinely committed to service. "Having visited Africa, I know how much these shoes are appreciated in poor countries," Holsti added. "Because they will be repaired and resoled many times, most of these shoes will still be in use years from now."

During her Duke career, Carlson has helped in a number of other ways. Each Saturday morning, she drives to Oxford where she tutors the children of Latino farm workers. "It's good for them to have contact with college students," she said. "Two are in high school. It lets them know what's outside of Oxford."

She also helps a Lakewood Elementary student for whom English is a second language with math, writing and reading. As a member of Duke University Environment Alliance, she collects recyclable materials in Wallace Wade Stadium after events. Previously, she tutored sixth-graders in math at the Durham School of the Arts

Carlson said she may have received her service instincts from her grandmother, who today still sews clothes for the Red Cross, works with the clothing bank and food pantry at her church and provides evening meals for the local homeless shelter. Still, there was "no great epiphany," Carlson said. "It just came from maturing, being able to realize I could help people."

After graduation, Carlson will continue on that path. She has signed up to teach for a minimum of two years through Teach for America, a national program that assigns bright young graduates to under-served schools. She will be in south Louisiana, where she will teach high school biology.

Carlson said her desire to teach can be traced to instructors she's encountered in high school and college. In high school, she experienced some teachers who "probably should not have been teaching" and others, like her calculus teacher, who she describes as "amazing."

"I don't want other students to be in the frustrating position of having an either poorly trained or uncaring teacher," she said.

At Duke, she's felt inspired to teach by professors like Fred Nijhout and Steve Nowicki who, she said, "care so much about their students. And they make it look like it is so much fun to be up there teaching."

Carlson said she had to struggle during her first two years at Duke to catch up to her classmates, but she's made the Dean's List every year. "I worked my butt off, basically."

Nowicki first met Carlson, then a freshman, in his introductory biology class: "Even then she stood out because of her genuine enthusiasm for learning. Not only was it clear from the beginning that she loves biology, it was equally clear that she loves to learn."

A year later, Carlson went to work in Nowicki's lab, where she helped with "all aspects of our work, from caring for young birds to state-of-the-art digital signal analysis," Nowicki said. "As Monica worked with us, it became clear that she not only loves to learn, but she also loves to teach. Her enthusiasms for teaching and for children are both obvious and infectious.

"This enthusiasm, combined with her energy and her love of science, will make her an inspiration to her students. In fact, Monica inspires me as a teacher. I'm pleased and proud to have had the opportunity to work with her during her time at Duke."