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DURHAM -- Among the 1,730 wide-eyed freshmen at Duke Chapel on Wednesday was Zimbabwe's junior chess champion, the national high school record-holder for the decathlon, two beekeepers, a student who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, and several entrepreneurs, one who by the age of 16 raised $15,000 for cancer research.
As for the rest of Duke University's Class of 2013, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Christoph Guttentag assured them, "If you have doubts, we did not make a mistake in admitting you. Every single one of you belongs here."
Students flocked to the convocation ceremony from 48 states and 50 countries, carting along their parents and plump lists of accomplishments. They represent the culmination of the most rigorous selection process in Duke's history, Guttentag said.
Almost 24,000 students applied last year, about 3,500 more than the previous year, and fewer than one in five applicants were accepted. In fact, Duke denied admission to more valedictorians than it accepted.
President Richard Brodhead challenged the class to reach beyond the status quo. Using examples from the university's history, Brodhead explained that Duke students are distinctive for their desires and actions to renovate society and the world.
"When you chose Duke, you chose a place that has made itself ever better by its willingness to dream bigger dreams and find ways to achieve them," Brodhead said. "And when I welcome you to Duke, I welcome you to join this history and write its future chapters."
'D-Day without hostile fire'
Dave Hilliard of Hillsboro, Ohio, thought the administrators' speeches might relieve his daughter Holly, an incoming freshman.
She worried that everyone else might be smarter than her, Hilliard said. "But hopefully she'll be more at ease knowing every kid is amazed in some way that they're here."
Hilliard's daughter, along with the rest of the freshman class, began moving into East Campus residence halls on Tuesday. Brodhead likened the chaos to "D-Day without hostile fire."
"Mountains of equipment were rapidly unloaded, representing months of planning of what you would need in a foreign place," he said.
Stephen Nowicki, dean and vice provost of undergraduate education, suggested that students brought an additional yet crucial tool: a collegiate scavenger list.
Each student has a different Duke scavenger list, and no student knows for sure what is on that list, Nowicki said. Some of the items are requirements for graduation, but the most important things to find are different kinds of people and different kinds of ideas.
"What we hope you accomplish during your time at Duke is not to finish your scavenger hunt, but rather to develop a zeal for looking for new things, and to learn how to recognize which of those new things will help you to continue to realize your talents and use them to do good in the world," Nowicki said.
Two freshmen, Leonard Ngeno and Fernando Revelo La Rotta, found Nowicki's metaphor helpful. The two recently participated in a scavenger hunt as part of Project Change, a pre-orientation program on ethical leadership and social change sponsored by The Kenan Institute for Ethics and the Duke Women's Center.
Though Ngeno is from Kenya and Revelo La Rotta hails from Colombia, the new friends found similarities in their efforts to become part of the Class of 2013.
Ngeno, Revelo La Rotta, and another freshman, Ali Swanson of Newark, N.J., were relieved by the encouraging words of the administrators.
"It's reassuring to be told that we were all picked for a reason," Swanson said.
A video of the convocation can be viewed online on Duke's Ustream channel, http://www.ustream.tv/dukeuniversity.
