'School Days' of Inspiration

BY KELLY HINCHCLIFFE khinchcliffe@heraldsun.com; 419-6651

Joshua Walker couldn't make up his mind. Should he be a doctor or an auto mechanic?

Either way, the Durham School of the Arts eighth-grader has some time to decide.

The one thing Joshua did determine Friday is that college needs to be part of his future plans. But first, he needs to work on overcoming some bad habits.

"I gotta lay off the video games," he said.

That kind of introspection and planning for the future is exactly what Durham Public Schools and Duke University officials were advocating when they held their seventh-annual "School Days" on Friday.

The program allows Durham eighth-graders to get a glimpse into college life for one day.

Dressed in matching blue T-shirts, more than 300 DPS eighth-graders saturated nearly every inch of the campus. Multiple groups of students crisscrossed paths, visiting everything from a dorm room to a crypt in Duke Chapel.

Students were able to experience a virtual 3-D lab, learn about fluorescent fish research and experiment with an earthquake simulator.

"We try to catch them now and get them inspired," said David Stein, Duke's education partnership coordinator.

Duke also brought out some familiar faces to help motivate the students.

Duke President Richard Brodhead encouraged the students to fully inspect "one of the most famous universities in the world." He also explained that a few years of hard work is all that stands between the eighth-graders and becoming college students.

"Those people, they're just you plus a few years," Brodhead said, referring to current college students.

Duke women's basketball star Lindsey Harding also offered advice.

"Don't be satisfied. Don't be complacent," she said. "Strive to do better."

Harding said her father inspired her to do well in school. Michael Harding grew up in St. Louis and worked hard to get good grades so he could go to college, she said. He eventually attended Pepperdine University and is now an executive at Anheuser-Busch.

"My father, he completely changed my life," Lindsey said.

Selena Oliver, a language arts and social studies teacher at Chewning Middle School, was especially interested in the School Days program. She wasn't able to attend college right out of high school, but finally got her degree years later after having children.

"Life with a high school diploma versus life with a college degree -- it's no comparison," she said.

Chewning student Jared Espinosa, 14, said he enjoyed meeting Duke's athletes. But he wondered how they survive in dorm rooms.

"It was pretty small for two people," he said.

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