This summer, the Hart Leadership Program supported thirty-four Duke students conducting community-engaged internships, projects, and research on important social, political, and humanitarian issues. From registering voters in Durham to working on freedom of speech in Kashmir, these HLP students have made an impact with their work, while developing their own capacity for ethical leadership along the way. Of these 34 students, one-third worked in North Carolina, while others have ranged as far as Brazil, India, and Hawaii. Read on below for a profile of some of these remarkable HLP students.
Service Opportunities in Leadership (SOL)
Michael Ramos T’26 is a Public Policy major from San Diego, California, interested in the topic of migration. Michael spent his SOL summer based in Durham, working with Siembra NC. Siembra NC describes themselves as a “grassroots organization focused on defending North Carolina communities from abusive employers and landlords, ICE, and bad políticos.” Michael spent much of his time in the field, meeting community members, canvassing, and conducting outreach phone calls. He also sat in on committee meetings, learned in depth about North Carolina labor laws, assisted at workers’ rights workshops held for community members, and assisted in community protests/actions held for workers.
Reflecting on his experience, Michael shares that he was touched by how Siembra members center connection, and how “this connection can move people often perceived as apolitical and disenfranchised from political participation such as Latine parental or grandparental figures, to call for change.” This connection, Michael writes, “is created by checking in on each other’s mental state, opening up to others, and including moments of relatability” in one’s leadership practice.
Patman Political Engagement Project
Jenna Smith T’25 is a senior at Duke studying International Comparative Studies and Journalism. Jenna spent her Patman summer interning the Innocence Project in New York. Jenna’s work was both research-focused, diving into how the Innocence Project legislates its core issues, and policy-oriented, working with her supervisor who develops the policy campaign strategy for several states, including those that have a low rate of legislative support for the Innocence Project’s work. Jenna writes, “I reveled in the opportunity to spend time playing with messaging language, and doing deep dives on legislators who might be sympathetic to our bill. This internship allowed me to understand the variety of crucial careers that are necessary to make change in the criminal justice reform world.”
Reflecting on her experience as a Patman Fellow, Jenna shares, “I feel like this internship, and summer more broadly, provided a great deal of clarity to my career path – I entered this role knowing that I wanted to work in the criminal justice space, but not knowing what jobs existed outside of litigation. Working with the policy department, and conversing with the State Advocates, along with leaders in the Race & Wrongful Convictions Department, Social Work, the Network, and communications showed me how many additional roles that need to be filled in the fight to provide justice to those left behind by the legal system.”
Leadership In Arts Policy Internship (LAPI)
Marina Varriano T’26 is a junior at Duke, studying Public Policy and Music, with a concentration in Piano Performance. Blending her passion for policy and music, Marina secured a summer internship with Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (VLA) in New York City. VLA provides free legal and educational services to artists in New York, offering legal protection to artists who need expert guidance navigating intellectual property law. Through her exposure to dozens of cases, Marina concludes, “while I expected to discover many areas where arts policy failed to provide proper guidance or protection to artists, I instead struggled to track the root of these problems back to specific faults in arts policy. My conclusion is that legal issues inevitably arise simply because every situation cannot be accounted for, which is why lawyers are so important.”
Through her participation in LAPI and her summer internship experience, Marina has learned valuable lessons about the intersection of arts and the law and is confident in her decision to pursue a career in law after her time at Duke. “I have been especially thankful for having this immersive experience so early on in my education and particularly lucky since legal experience for undergraduates is hard to come by. I have made many connections that will help me throughout my career, as well as new friends.”
To read more about other student projects supported by the Hart Leadership Program, check out our Students Projects Database.