The ELI Summer Leadership Accelerator offers students a developmental summer experience that includes an internship placement involving a high level of responsibility and accountability, a financial stipend, and active personal coaching and support.

Eli Kozin - The Mission Continues

Eli is a sophomore from Long Island, New York. He plans to major in Sociology with another major to be determined. This summer, he worked in St. Louis with The Mission Continues, a nonprofit organization that facilitates community service projects across the country which allow returning veterans to continue to give back to their country (their CEO, Eric Greitens, is also a Duke graduate).

During his internship, Eli

• Planned and supported more than 20 service projects for veterans and their families across the United States,
• Solicited in-kind donations for national and local service projects,
• Contributed to the creation of a ‘Service Projects Toolkit’ for volunteer training, and
• Took on a personal project of creating training documents for future interns

Robert Kollenberg - Bull City Forward

Robert is a senior from Houston, Texas, majoring in Public Policy. Robert spent his summer in Durham, working with Bull City Forward (BCF), a non-profit organization that exists to dramatically increase the creation, scale and impact of social enterprises in Durham. ELI alumnus, Alison Dorsey, was his direct supervisor.

 During his internship, Robert

• Managed the BCF Intern Program by meeting individually with students interning in Durham social impact organizations to determine their interests in participating in larger community events. As a result, Robert organized, marketed, and facilitated events featuring local speakers. He also planned two larger triangle “entrepreneurial intern” gatherings.
• Created a Speaker Series database for national social entrepreneurs coming to Durham in Fall 2011, and
• Synthesized Bull City Forward materials to be used in the organization’s replication tool kit.

Seung-Yen Park - Sustained Dialogue Campus Network

Seung-Yen is a junior from Collierville, Tennessee, majoring in Public Policy Studies and Economics. She spent her summer in Washington D.C., interning with the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network, an organization whose mission is to develop leaders who engage differences as strengths to improve campuses, workplaces, and communities. ELI alumnus, Amy Lazarus, was Seung-Yen’s summer supervisor.

 During her internship, Seung-Yen

• Wrote and submitted three grant applications,
• Completed the SDCN annual report,
• Organized and supported two summer retreats,
• Managed Twitter and Facebook posts,
• Researched, wrote recommendations for, and implemented SDCN’s Facebook group transition, and
• Created the pre-dialogue survey for all 2011-2012 academic year SDCN participants.

Kevin Lieberman - IdeaFabrik

Kevin is a senior from Potomac, Maryland, majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Sociology. This summer Kevin interned with Idea Fabrik, an online video games company based in Gaithersburg, MD, helping to market two new products.  ELI alumnus, Melina Papadopoulus, was Kevin's direct supervisor.

During his internship, Kevin

• Created, implemented, and managed the companies social media strategy on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube,
• Researched, authored and presented on a series of blog posts for the company blog,
• Created marketing materials and presentations for game developers,
• Conducted research on online advertising and content marketing, and
• Tracked and created a database for PR/news articles where Hero products were mentioned.

Alexandra MacLeish - Duke University Durham Regional Affairs

Alex is a senior from Newton, Massachusetts, majoring in International Comparative Studies with a certificate in Global Health and a minor in Chinese. Alex spent her summer in Durham, NC working with the Duke Durham Neighborhood Partnership division of Durham Regional Affairs. 

During her internship, Alex

• Supported three week-long summer programs in Durham (BOOST, Teacher Training, John Hope Frankling Program) in addition to ongoing summer programs (Enlaces, Summer Reading Program, Stepping Stones),
• Updated the DDNP Student Engagement Database,
• Recruited a group of Duke students to help local organization, El Futuro, with a two-day renovation/beautification project, and
• Continued to develop ASPIRE, the after-school enrichment program she created as part of Tony Brown’s PPS144s Fall 2011 course. Alex updated the program curriculum and secured a new community center partner for expanding the program to reach more students this year.

Tara Stokes - Brinker Capital

Tara is a sophomore from Gladwyne, Pennsylvania who has not yet declared her major. This summer, she interned at Brinker Capital, an investment management firm located in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. 

During her internship, Tara

• Monitored the Account Administration inbox and indexed requests into the workflow system,
• Processed returned mail and tracked statistics,
• Assisted financial representatives in accessing the firm’s website,
• Assisted with the processing of account maintenance requests,
• Organized multiple “Lunch and Learn” sessions for company employees, and
• Initiated and presented to COO a digital proposal inspired by the firm’s Gender Survey results about Brinker Capital’s internet footprint.

Veronica Ray - WorldCorps, Inc.

Veronica is a junior from San Antonio, TX majoring in Public Policy with a minor in Economics. Veronica spent her summer in San Francisco, CA, working with WorldCorps Inc, a fellowship program for recent university graduates worldwide.

During her internship, Veronica

• Developed the WorldCorps social media strategy,
• Established a database of key organizations to target for partnership,
• Conducted research on the application process for similar fellowship programs and wrote recommendations for the WorldCorps application form and process, and
• Took on the personal project of updating the WorldCorps Inc website by writing new content.

Ian Harwood - St. John's Presbyterian Church

Ian is a sophomore Public Policy Major and North Carolina native. This summer, he worked with a local Durham Latino community through St. John’s Presbyterian Church to establish a community center that engaged the skills and needs of its members. ELI alumnus, Amanda Diekman, was his direct supervisor.

During his internship, Ian

• Identified and profiled three model ministries as best-practices for community-based development,
• Conducted an Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) assessment of Iglesia Emanuel and the surrounding community, and
• Contributed to a grant request, specifically incorporating the neighborhood information generated during his internship.

 Ross Tucker - MTV Networks - New York City, NY

Ross is a junior from Westfield, New Jersey, majoring in Visual and Media Studies with a certificate in Markets and Management. This summer, Ross interned in New York City for MTV Network’s Web/Digital Multimedia department.

During his internship, Ross

• Compiled daily blog updates from the VH1.com website,
• Organized pages for specific artists featured on the website,
• Assisted with digital music video building processes and on-set music video production, and
• Archived existing site content in database.