Anyone who walks on the Duke West campus can tell that there is a strong historical presence with Duke Chapel at its focal point, and it strongly influences the architecture The Chapel is currently undergoing construction, however, that does not distract from its magnificence. I would describe the Duke West campus as hauntingly beautiful and slightly eerie at night. The buildings are tan with red brick, short, spread out and adorned with flower wreathes.
Moreover, learning the cultural history of the two campuses gave me a clear picture of the stark differences between the campuses. For example, Duke was originally an all male institution, and it was located on what is now referred to as West Campus. There is a mile-long expanse dividing the East and West campuses because the original idea was to keep the men and women separate.
As such, the architecture even mimics traditional ideas of masculinity and femininity. West Campus boasts characteristics of a strong and active masculine presence.
This is evidenced in the symbolic gestures towards parts of the male anatomy. East Campus contains more docile and fragile artistic attributes. This is evidenced by the East Campus landscape which was constructed to resemble the female reproductive system.
These are the things that I began to notice while I walked from place to place. Today, and for some time now, both campuses are occupied by both male and female students, and there are even co-ed dormitories. However, the historical landscape governs the activity on each campus.
For instance, West Campus holds buildings for natural sciences, theology and the football stadium. While East Campus is home to buildings for dance training, visual arts and music — educational opportunities that were traditionally only offered to women. I believe it is important to learn the history of any place that I encounter, and to view it through a culturally-relative lens. Meeting Dean Sabrina Thomas, Ph. On my way to my cognitive psychology class, I stumbled into the Allen building where I saw Dean Thomas' office.
She is the person responsible for accepting me into the exchange program at Duke. After class, I returned to the Allen building in hopes of meeting with Dean Thomas. Prior to our meeting, I had only interacted with Dean Thomas via email. When I arrived in her office, I was thrilled to have some prior familiarity with someone at this "strange" place.
It was not until five minutes into the conversation that I realized Dean Thomas had no idea who I was. She thought I attended Duke University and was interested in applying for an exchange to visit Spelman College.
I had a Spelman t-shirt on and I guess she assumed I was just excited about the exchange program. Her whole demeanor changed as she came to realize that I was actually from Spelman.
We laughed the misunderstanding off and then the conversation turned serious as I practically gave her my whole life story and a brief synopsis of who I am. Dean Thomas was very warm yet authoritative in expressing the seriousness of this opportunity and she grilled me so I would fully understand the expectations I should have of myself as a young scholar and future Ph. Perhaps it was because she was a black woman with a doctorate, but Dean Thomas did more for me during that conversation than she probably knows.
She helped put me at ease because after our conversation, I realized I have in my corner a caring person whose attitude mirrors the high expectations I have come to appreciate, expect and admire from members of the Spelman College community. She then proceeded to introduce me to Duke's Mellon Mays representative, Ms. Deborah Wahl. Connecting with the Duke Mellon fellows has been another avenue by which I have been able to create a familiar space at Duke.
The academic transition at Duke has been going well, and I was well prepared for the academic rigor thanks to Spelman. As a student eager to learn all I can, I find my classes very interesting and a useful way of putting my critical thinking skills to work.
While at Duke, I have a goal of attaining strong relationships with at least three tenured professors so I can develop long-term relationships with them. I also hope to secure a recommendation letter from at least one of them.
When I apply for Ph. In addition to my courses, I am using this experience to continue to inform my Mellon research and future senior thesis project. The resources at Duke are amazing and their libraries are beyond anything I could have imagined. I am constantly in the library for hours at a time to read, think, write notes, and develop ideas. As a junior in college, I have grown to appreciate and understand the importance of balancing my holistic, mental and physical health as well as my academic success.
I have established and will continue to maintain a healthy balance of research, academic courses, social interaction, and self-care. In addition to work, I enjoy reading for fun, doing yoga, having midnight meditation, cooking, creating things with my sewing machine, doing my hair, writing in my journal, and taking pictures and videos to document my experience. I attended the first football game of the season and it was really fun. There were so many people! I have never experienced a typical American college football game conducted on such a large scale.
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