As another year of leadership learning and discovery comes to a close, the Hart Leadership Program is thrilled to celebrate the many accomplishments of our phenomenal students.
During Academic Year 2024-2025, students in Hart Leadership Summer Programs—Service Opportunities in Leadership (SOL), Patman Political Engagement Project, Leadership in Arts Policy Internship (LAPI), Laidlaw Scholars Research and Leadership Program, and the Hart Fellowship—received a range of awards, recognitions, and fellowships in honor and support of their high academic achievement, leadership potential, and care for the common good.
Chloe Decker (Patman 2024) has been awarded the Terry Sanford Leadership Award. This award is presented annually by the Sanford School to graduating public policy majors in recognition of their achievement in leadership. Awardees are nominated by faculty and staff and selected by a committee of Sanford faculty. In the summer of 2024, Chloe completed her Patman internship with the Reimagine Rural Policy Initiative at the Brookings Institute in Washington, DC.
Mariana Meza Mantilla (SOL 2023, Patman 2025) has been selected as a Nakayama Public Service Scholar. Awarded to support students interested in responding to the world’s challenges through careers in public service, the Nakayama Scholarship covers one half of the Scholar’s tuition in their senior year. Scholars also engage with Duke faculty and public servants in a variety of fields for mentorship and career exploration. For her SOL summer, Mariana contributed to work in immigration justice, and she is currently exploring political leadership as a Patman Fellow.
Anushri Saxena (SOL 2023) has won the 2025 Best Honors Thesis Award for her thesis, “Crisis Pregnancy Centers Post-Roe v. Wade: Correlates of State Variation in Anti-Abortion Fake Clinics.” The undergraduate honors thesis is an opportunity for students to conduct a year-long intensive research project on a topic of their choosing. Anushri spent her SOL summer at the Montrose Center, an LGBTQ community center in Houston, TX.
Oliver Hess (LAPI 2023) is the recipient of the Nancy Kaneb Art History Award. This award is presented annually by the faculty of Art, Art History, and Visual Studies in recognition of an outstanding senior in the History of Art. For his Leadership in Arts Policy Internship, Oliver interned with two museums in St. Petersburg, Florida: Museum of the American Arts and Crafts (MAACM) and the Dalí Museum.
Eleanor Mackey (SOL 2023) has been selected as a 2025 Duke TeachHouse Fellow, an intensive living and learning program for early career educators. Over two years in this competitive fellowship, Eleanor will teach in Durham Public Schools while living and learning with a community of driven educators. In 2023, Eleanor completed her SOL internship with Walker Therapeutic and Educational Programs in Needham, MA, working as a Direct Care Counselor Intern in a residential treatment program.
Lauren Valle (SOL 2023) has been awarded the Julia Harper Day Award for Documentary Studies. This annual award recognizes a graduating senior who has demonstrated excellence in documentary studies and has significantly contributed to programming at the Center for Documentary Studies. During the 2024-2025 academic year, Lauren worked on a documentary photography project, “Unseen Histories: Latinidad in Focus,” which memorializes the Latino/a/x students who continue to shape Duke’s story. “Unseen Histories” is currently on display at the Center for Documentary Studies. In the summer of 2023, Lauren worked with Sociedad Latina as a Health Education intern.
Lauren Valle: Unseen Histories, CDS Exhibition, May 2025
Sherman Criner (Patman 2025) was selected as a Student Fellow with Duke’s Civil Discourse Project (CDP). CDP sponsors courses, events, and scholarship that promote civil discourse through modeling or teaching the capacities and virtues necessary to engage in healthy exchange across differences. This summer, Sherman will complete his Patman internship with the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal in Raleigh, NC.
Kulsoom Rizavi (SOL 2024) has been awarded a 2025 Overseas Press Club Foundation Scholar Award in recognition of her documentary and photojournalism work. The Overseas Press Club Foundation supports aspiring international journalists by providing funding and professional development through real-world experiences with its media partners. In 2025, Kulsoom will complete a placement with the Associated Press in India. For her SOL summer, Kulsoom partnered with the Institute for Macroeconomics in Hannover, Germany and conducted a documentary project exploring internet freedom and state violence.
Ari Miller (SOL 2024) has been named a 2025 Presidential Fellow by the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress. This program aims to inspire and equip undergraduates for civic-minded leadership by providing an opportunity to closely observe and study the inner workings of the executive and legislative branches. Ari spent her SOL summer working with You Can Vote (YCV), a non-partisan voter education and advocacy organization in North Carolina.
Olivia Schramkowski (SOL 2025) has been named a 2025 John Robert Lewis Scholar. This year-long program sponsored by The Faith and Politics Institute invites selected Scholars and Fellows to study inequality and the principles of nonviolence, connect with leaders in government, and conduct an oral history project to connect deeply with communities and their stories. Olivia will spend her SOL summer with the Atlanta Mayor’s Office in the Office of Housing and Community Development.
We also applaud two graduating Hart Leadership students who have previously been awarded nationally competitive scholarships: Yadira Paz-Martinez, who was named a 2024 Harry S. Truman Scholar, and Jenna Smith, who was named a 2025 Rhodes Scholar.
Please join the Hart Leadership Program and the Duke community in celebrating the accomplishments of our students. These many awards, recognitions, and fellowships speak not only to the intellectual depth and civic commitment of Hart Leadership students but also to their eagerness to continue exploring the art of ethical leadership in public life as their educational and career journeys unfold. To learn more about all of our program offerings, please visit our program overview page.