Some 1,700 members of the
Class of 2015 arrive on campus Tuesday.
All carry impressive stories; here we share a sample of four profiles to
showcase the class' many achievements and wide-ranging goals.
Safa Al-Saeedi
What would you give up to
pursue your dreams? Your familiar comforts? Your language? Your mom?
Safa Al-Saeedi has
sacrificed all three, at least temporarily. She has set her sights on a career
in politics, the most effective way, as she sees it, to join with the people in
her native Yemen who seek peace and want to change the world.
"Change is going to
happen," Al-Saeedi said. "I seek to be part of it."
Al-Saeedi is proud to be a
Muslim, but she would like to change some of the traditions in Yemen that she
says are not a part of the religion: A married woman has to cover her face in
public. Women can't travel alone or decide for themselves whether or not to
marry. Education for women holds low priority. And women are not welcome in the
political process in Yemen.
In public school,
Al-Saeedi earned every award from "Most Well-Mannered Student" to "Best
Student in the Capital." Her father supported her desire to pursue her
education outside of Yemen; the rest of her family balked at an 18-year-old girl
going by herself to a foreign culture and country where she knew only basic English.
In 2009, she went to
United World College in New Mexico with her father's blessing to study
economics and history and improve her English. She chose to continue her
education at Duke because the school's interdisciplinary approach,
international student body and emphasis on the power of social action would
help her design ideal political policies.
With that education, she
plans to return to Yemen and take the first step.
"My goal is not to
change other people's minds," she said, "but to speak my own."
Eleanor Kenimer
Of course Eleanor Kenimer
would sign up for Duke's pre-orientation experience Project Wild.
A vegetarian years before
she read Jonathan Foer's "Eating Animals" -- this year's reading
assignment for the entering class -- Kenimer has been practicing leave-no-trace
camping since she was 8. She also taught kids at a summer camp to live
sustainably, and to identify trees by their leaves and birds by their calls.
In high school, she
jettisoned years of classical piano training to log onto the Internet and teach
herself how to play the banjo. She formed a band (whose name was inspired by
the hideous sweaters in a Harry Potter film) that performs on street corners in
Old Town in her hometown of Alexandria, Va. Her repertoire includes a bluegrass
rendition of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way."
And she still finds time
to sing in the school play, "Rent," run cross country, do indoor and
outdoor track events and pole vault, because "it's definitely fun."
She'll bring her banjo to
Duke, but she'd like to join an a cappella group. She might major in biology or
environmental science or something else altogether.
The world is open to her,
and she'll leave her footprint, sustainably, of course.
Ryan Toussaint
Ryan Toussaint showed
students at his public high school the light, quite literally.
He designed and built a
photovoltaic (solar) energy system and wired it through the electrical system
of his school in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., just north of Detroit.
The project was how
Toussaint, an Eagle Scout, coped with having to sit out his junior year of
track because of a back injury. "The doctor said I couldn't exercise,"
he said, "so I had a lot of time on my hands."
Toussaint created the
design as an independent study project his junior year. And it would have
remained on paper had the CEO of Michigan CAT not volunteered to cover the cost
of the project. Toussaint followed through and got permits, ordered parts, put
together the racking system, installed panels and helped wire the system into
the school's system.
Among many things, the
possibility of living in Smart House drew him to Duke. Toussaint plans to
pursue a career in engineering, specifically involving alternative energy and
computers. He served a summer internship with the U.S. Department of Defense at
its facility in Warren, Mich., working on the type of advanced battery
technology that allows cars to run on batteries.
Rounding out his skill set,
Toussaint speaks some Japanese, which he learned in his early grade-school
years while his father's job transfer took the family to Tokyo for four years.
Even at that tender age, he was impressed by the discipline of the Japanese
people and the ability of the average citizen to speak several languages. The
efficiency and smart use of limited space, in the densely populated city,
planted the engineering seed in him.
"I saw how
engineering could solve society's problems," he said.
Luya You
Luya You grew up as "the
girl who could draw." After budget cuts eliminated many fine arts programs
in the public schools in her hometown of Duluth, Ga., she and a friend took
action to fill the void.
They canvassed elementary
school principals to learn the extent of the need, then formed Imagination
Revolution. The after-school program in visual arts, martial arts, music,
dance, theater and creative writing is free for elementary school kids.
You and her friend talked
a dance academy into renting rooms after hours to Imagination Revolution for a
very small fee, and they recruited their classmates to serve as teachers in
exchange for community service hours required by programs such as Beta Club and
the National Honor Society.
Every Friday after school
and often throughout the weekend during the school year, talented
high-schoolers ignite the budding talents and passions of youngsters who
otherwise would have little formal exposure to creative arts.
"We didn't think it
would catch on, but it did," said You, who has set up a formal board so
the organization will continue once she leaves for Duke.
Though she has won
numerous awards over the years for painting and writing, at Duke she plans to
major in economics or business. In 2009, she built small houses in rural China
during an internship with Goldman Sachs.
"Visual arts has
shaped my life," she said, "but I want to keep it separate from my
career. I don't want to be restricted by certain fields. I want to make the
most of my college experience."