Meaningful Memorial Day 2024 Earns a Duke Time Off Photo Prize

Annual summer photo campaign highlighting Duke's time off benefit runs through Aug. 4

Julie Kent and her son, Zachary, visited Woodlawn Memorial Park over Memorial Day Weekend. Photo courtesy of Julie Kent.
Julie Kent and her son, Zachary, visited Woodlawn Memorial Park over Memorial Day Weekend. Photo courtesy of Julie Kent.

To kick off Memorial Day weekend, Julie Kent and her 8-year-old son Zachary visited Durham’s Woodlawn Memorial Park to remember and honor U.S. military personnel.

As part of an activity organized by local Boy Scouts, Julie, a Cub Scout Den Leader in Durham Cub Scout Pack 400, and Zachary, a Wolf Scout, joined fellow scouts in going row-by-row in search of the graves of veterans. Upon finding them, they read the veteran’s name, rank and service branch out loud, place a small flag at the grave and took a moment to ponder their sacrifice.

“It was a great way to remember those who served in the military, and teach my son about respect, service and sacrifice,” said Julie, a Laboratory Research Analyst for the Soderling Lab in the Duke Department of Cell Biology.

Julie Kent and her son.
Julie Kent, right, and her son Zachary, visited Woodlawn Memorial Park to place flags on the graves of veterans during Memorial Day Weekend. Photo courtesy of Julie Kent.

Over a few hours, Julie and Zachary visited around 100 graves. Along the way, Julie captured a photo of her and her son, enjoying the opportunity to honor those who served.

Julie’s photo was shared during the opening week of the annual Duke Time Off photo campaign. The summer-long campaign invites staff and faculty to share photos of time off – near and far – for prizes from the Washington Duke Inn, Duke Lemur Center and Duke University Stores. Julie will receive the first prize, a 24-can Duke cooler, from Duke University Stores.

“Doing this with my son was really nice,” Kent said . “We hear about how we should take a moment on Memorial Day and appreciate those who lost their lives serving our country, but it’s nice to look at it through a kid’s perspective and explain to my son who these people were, what they did and why we’re doing this. I think reading their names out loud and recognizing their service made a big impact on him.”

How to share your 2024 summer pictures:

  • Post and tag a photo on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook with the #DukeTimeOff hashtag and tag Working@Duke as well.
  • In your post, share what you’re doing with your time away from work and why it’s special.
  • Remember to include #DukeTimeOff and tag Working@Duke in your post, so we see your snapshots on social media.
  • If you’re not on social media or prefer to share your picture another way, upload your picture here.

We welcome and encourage frequent submissions (there’s even a prize for a shutterbug), but only the first picture in a series of pictures will be entered whenever one submission contains multiple images. Collage photographs and videos are not eligible for prizes.

During the campaign, the Working@Duke editorial team will award Duke-themed merchandise from Duke University Stores.

All eligible pictures taken and shared throughout the course of the campaign – May 22, 2024, through Aug. 4, 2024 – will be in the running for these grand prizes:

  • A “Classic Package for Two” ($425 value) at the Washington Duke Inn, which includes a king or double/double room for one night and full breakfast for two in the Vista Room or room service, courtesy of the Washington Duke Inn. Sunday brunch is not eligible.
  • A tour of the Duke Lemur Center’s Natural History Museum for up to five people with museum curator, Dr. Matt Borths. The collection is one of the rarest fossil primate collections in the world. Borths and his team will give the lucky winners a behind the scenes look at the collection and let them try their hand at fossil prep work.

Send story ideas, shout-outs and photographs by writing working@duke.edu.

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