This summer, TLC brought on a communications intern, Laura Whaling, to work with us on…
This summer, TLC staff and volunteers have had the pleasure of getting to know Duncan Dodson. Duncan is studying environmental science at Duke University and joined TLC this summer through the Stanback Internship Program.
Duncan hails from Tulsa, Oklahoma where he spent many formative years as a Boy Scout. “I basically got to experience 12 years of camp outs,” explained Duncan. For his Eagle Scout project, Duncan pursued his interest in Spanish by helping an ESL classroom. He held a book drive so successful it led to him building a mobile library for the books they couldn’t squeeze into the classroom.
When choosing a college, Duncan’s two criteria were an engineering program and a study abroad program. During a college fair at his school, he found a college with both – Duke University. He was also sold by the fact that Duke had an aggressive early admission program. Duncan was already accepted and committed to Duke by the time he made his first visit to the campus for Blue Devil Days the spring of his senior year of High School.
Like many students, Duncan switched his field of study, going from engineering to environmental science. Still, his favorite classes have been Introduction to Environmental Engineering and Fluid Mechanics. He especially enjoyed how those classes were hands-on and described environmental issues from a hard science perspective.
Duncan stays busy outside of class with involvement in many different projects, but especially with Project Wild and the Ubuntu living group. Project WILD (Wilderness Initiatives for Learning at Duke) is a pre-orientation trip for incoming freshman in which participants backpack for eleven days through the beautiful Pisgah National Forest in the Appalachian Mountains. Duncan went through the program his freshman year, finding a home away from home that he gladly returned to as both a trip leader and as the program director for a year.
Duncan is proud of how the program demonstrates non-directive leadership and bolsters accountability and confidence in new students. He is also proud of how the program works in the community to take students from local Durham high schools on a fall break trip that many of the students could not otherwise afford.
His other main activity is Ubuntu, a selective living group at Duke University devoted to civic engagement and social change. “Ubuntu” is an African term roughly translating to “human kindness” and is a philosophy focusing on connections and community. Duncan likes how “Ubus” - as they call themselves - introduce one another to global issues and open themselves to intellectual challenges.
This summer, Duncan has been working on creating a draft management plan for TLC’s Walnut Hill Nature Preserve. TLC owns and manages Walnut Hill and hopes to open it to the public within the next few years.
Duncan presenting his research on Walnut Hill
