“Can an online program allow me to connect with my peers as well as a classroom-based program?” After recently completing my Duke Environmental Leadership (DEL) orientation, I know the answer is an emphatic YES!

DEL creates these peer-to-peer connections during its unique place-based experience. My week long orientation brought together a diverse group of 12 professionals. Despite arriving with different professional skills and expertise, we all left with a sense of community built through common experiences.

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These shared experiences came in many forms. For example, over the summer our entire Class of 2016 read Toms River, a book about the impact of un-checked industrial pollution on one small New Jersey town. This common reading laid the foundation for a group discussion about environmental leadership during orientation.

Orientation also included speakers who explored the connection between human activity and the environment. We spent one morning in the Duke Forest with Norm Christensen (founder of the DEL program). Norm painted a picture of how the Duke Forest’s landscape has changed based on human activity throughout the centuries.

We also took a fieldtrip to the Duke Martine Lab in Beaufort, NC.   We learned about marine ecosystems in the Rachel Carson Nature Preserve and got to “meet” a few of the preserves residents!

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We also met and talked with locals, like the Town Manager of Emerald Isle and the owner of Hooper Family Seafood, who are trying to strike a balance between environmental preservation and economic prosperity.

All of these experiences: the reading, field trips, and discussions, created a mutual understanding. This built a sense of community that will carry us through our first semester. And when this first semester is over, I’ll be excited to see everyone back on campus in December!

By Megan E. Green, MEM ’16

*Special thanks to my classmate Michelle Schopp for letting me use a couple of her photos in this post!