At TIP, the Alumni Keep Coming Back
Celebrating its 30th year, the program maintains ties with former students
Three decades ago they were bright young students, walking around East Campus during the summer talking about the latest gossip, plus geometry, literature, history and physics.
Now they are the alumni of Duke's Talent Identification Program, an internationally known organization for academically gifted kids. As the program's 30th anniversary comes to an end this summer, many of these alumni help out by giving back to the program.
Jane Willis, a Duke TIP alumna who attended from '82 through ‘86, is a partner at one of the largest national law firms in the United States. She said her experience at Duke TIP was an eye opener and she uses the tools and experiences in her everyday work.
"There were many extraordinary, ambitious, college bound kids all in one place," said Willis. "The intensive self-paced coursework at Duke TIP encouraged me to be a self- starter and work on my own at a fast pace."
Willis, who lives in Massachusetts, says as a lawyer she dives into her cases in a very similar way to this day.
Many alumni said they connected with their TIP peers in ways that they didn't in their own community back home. "When we read the testimonials they frequently seemed socially isolated in their school settings," said Joy Baldwin, TIP's director of identification and support services. "At TIP peer groups are easy to find."
Alison Stuebe, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UNC said, "I wouldn't have survived middle school and high school without TIP."
Stuebe who went to an all girls' school described herself as an average boy crazy 14 year old, knocking on all the boys' doors to meet them. "There was no air, the food was terrible, but there was pizza and it was fun," said Stuebe.
She said that the confidence she found at TIP helped her become more social at her real school. "A classmate of mine who I went to TIP with came back and said, ‘It was amazing at TIP, Alison was popular,'" said Stuebe.
She said that being at TIP gave her the experience to be in a group of people where she was free to express her intelligence with kids of similar interests and abilities.
"It was great to be at a place where I felt completely comfortable being myself," she said.
Stuebe who attended TIP for four years, ‘86 through ‘89, said that when it was close to the time to go back to the TIP Summer Studies Program she would keep track of the hours. "854 hours, 853 hours," she said with a laugh.
Martha Putallaz, executive director of Duke TIP said, "Many of them feel like this is the first time they have met their people, and they walk away with lasting friendships."
Baldwin said TIP has been focusing more on alumni than it has in the past. "We are reconnecting with them," said Baldwin. "It is interesting to find out about the paths they have chosen and what are currently doing in their careers.
Ben Greenman is an author of six books and works at The New Yorker, attended Duke TIP from '83 through '86 with two years in courses and two years as a teaching assistant.
"Duke TIP was a fantastic experience and it got me thinking about an actual career in academics rather than just an interest," Greenman said.
He said Duke TIP had so many different experiences that he couldn't isolate one.
"There were so many parts of it: so many risks and rewards, predictable victories and so many unexpected failures," he said.
After being accepted in TIP, many of the kids come back every year to take courses, and some join the TIP staff as residential assistants, teachers' assistants, and instructors.
"Of the 3,145 students participating in one of our Summer Studies Programs this summer 37 percent of them attended a program last year," said Brian Cooper director of domestic educational programs. "Ten percent of our total seasonal TIP staff is TIP alumni,"
Some of the TIP friendships evolved into TIP romances.
Stuebe married TIP alumnus Geoffrey Green, who attended from '86 through '88. She said that they met at TIP, but weren't really friends there.
"We met at Duke again and worked at The Chronicle together and started dating," said Stuebe. "Gerald Wilson , one of our TIP instructors, married us."
There are others: Dean Karlan, a professor of economics at Yale University and this year's Grand Recognition Ceremony speaker, is married to another TIP alumnus and former summer staff member.
TlP alumni will always share the common bond of Duke TIP as one of their fonder childhood memories.
"Every once in a while, I will run into someone who went to TIP," said Greenman. "In a way, it's better that way because it exists as a kind of secret space in my memory."
"I run into TIP alum pretty frequently and there is an instant bond," Stuebe said. "There are number of people that I didn't know at TIP, but we talk about the memories as if we were there at the same time."
