Clough: Shack's Summer Worthwhile At The Emily Krzyzewski Center

By Rob Clough, GoDuke.com

Lacrosse player Rachel Shack chose a slightly different path for her summer this year. After an internship with sports marketing & management firm Octagon last summer, Shack opted this year to get involved with a project near and dear to Coach K's heart: the Emily Krzyzewski Family Life Center. Shack's father was in the class of '75 at Duke and so she's been a Duke fan her whole life and had been interested in working with the center for some time.

"I never got to volunteer here during the school year because our practice times were always during the after-school afternoon block during which the Emily K Center operates, so I thought this summer would be a great time to do it", noted Shack, whose love of teaching and working with kids was the most important motivator for her involvement with the Summer Leadership Academy at the center. Inspired by education courses taught by David Malone ("one of my favorite professors") and her subsequent experiences tutoring in Durham public elementary schools, Shack was also drawn to the center because of what it stands for.

Expanding on that, Shack said "The Emily K Center teaches six 'pillars' or core values: heart, respect, hard work, integrity, honesty, and high expectations, and I think that these reflect the values that Emily Krzyzewski taught her children. From what I understand, she also really taught Coach K to take pride in everything he did and to make the best of any situation. All of these values are so important for not only the kids at the center to learn and utilize in their everyday lives, but for me to remember all the time as I finish up college and start looking for jobs. Sometimes in college, college sports, and the job market, I think some of these simple values can get lost in the shuffle at times."

One thing that has not gotten lost is the impact Shack's service had on Mike Krzyzewski.

“It amazes me that a young woman would give up her summer, basically the only time she's got off the whole year, to help the Center,” said Krzyzewski. “This is another example of all the things our kids do in Durham, from visiting kids at the Duke Children's Hospital to reading to elementary school children as part of Read with the Blue Devils to volunteering at the Emily K Center. We have great young men and women at Duke, and Rachel exemplifies that. It makes me proud to know we're having a tremendous impact in our community. People like Rachel are a huge part of that effort.”

The Summer Leadership Academy for which Shack volunteers is aimed at economically disadvantaged Durham school children, and all programs are free for them. She noted that they "get scholarships for 'enrichment' activities during the summer. For example, a couple of the kids are going to sports camps and one of them has earned a spot as an 'ambassador' and is going to Australia for three weeks. It will be his first time on a plane!"

As to her daily activities with the center, Shack enthused, "There really is no typical day at the center!" She works with the kids on SAT prep, leadership & team-building exercises, computer proficiency, as well as reading & writing activities. Additionally, Shack notes that "they also get college counseling every week which is an amazing bonus and really puts the kids ahead of the curve. They also serve as co-counselors for camps that use the Emily K Center facilities: the Duhon-Williams Basketball Camp and a Drama Camp."

For Shack, the best part of her day is working with the kids, who "never cease to amaze me!" Working with six teenagers going into their sophomore or junior year of high school, Shack says that "they are all outgoing, funny, smart, polite, and motivated. We all get along great; they always give me a hard time but I know it means we really are friends and they can be comfortable around me. But, I try to be a real authority figure when they need to get to work!"

The experience has clearly been a powerful one for Shack. "[The Center] is operated with a lot of passion by people who care so much about this city and the kids within it. Also, having loved Duke my whole life, it is a privilege to work at a place that Coach K has put his heart into, a place that honors his mother and everything she stood for." Working with the kids has been an important influence on her future as well, since Shack wants to teach in an inner-city setting after graduation, with either Teach For America or a similar program. Shack related that she was also “interested in learning about the business/operations aspects of a non-profit, and my supervisor (Lauren Gardner) went to Fuqua, so I knew I could learn a lot from her."

Gardner explains that Shack serves "in a number of roles from program design, intern evaluations, implementation, and serving as [a] role model." She goes on to say, "Rachel has done an amazing job in this role. She has been able to manage the often difficult role of being a trusted mentor who provides support while also challenging the students to work harder and dream bigger. A number of our interns excel in and are passionate about sports - football, basketball, volleyball - and to have a role model who is a successful student- athlete at a prestigious college is a huge motivator for them. I probably couldn't say it better than one of our high school interns, Danzel Pegram did: 'Rachel is a great influence and role model to look up to...she is a student-athlete giving back to the community...it makes you want to excel at sports but also at academics and service.'"

Making a difference in her adopted city of Durham is important to Shack, and it is not lost on her that she's representing Duke both as a student and an athlete to the community. She notes that "some of the kids want to play sports in college so I'm glad I've been able to answer some questions about my experiences. We actually just went on a field trip to Duke and I gave them a little ?insider's tour' of Duke athletics!"

Speaking of athletics, Shack played basketball in high school and considers it her first love. While she misses basketball "every day" and had dreams of being a two-sport athlete, Shack noted that lacrosse coach Kerstin Kimel "has given me an amazing opportunity to be part of Duke Lacrosse and I feel luckier every day to be surrounded by this caliber of people. Playing one sport at Duke is a huge challenge in itself, and we still have to accomplish the ultimate goal and win that National Championship."

Of course, Shack slyly noted that "Even though my focus during the year is on lacrosse, I've been going to the basketball court down the street almost every day this summer. Watch out, I'm shooting the lights out lately.”

Shack finds time to attend as many men's and women's basketball games as possible and is delighted to see the inspiration for her wearing #12. "Steve Wojciechowski is one of my heroes and I've watched him from '95 as a player until now as a coach,” said Shack. “It's still kind of surreal to me that I get to be #12 on a Duke team now and go to his games in Cameron whenever I want."

Pondering her future, Shack offered, "I'm not sure if teaching will be my life's work, but I think a two year program like TFA will definitely open my eyes to how difficult (and rewarding) it is, and I will go from there, if I am lucky enough to be accepted to the program. I also enjoyed the celebrity consulting work I did for Octagon last summer so right now my mindset is to follow my heart and go wherever life takes me, but as of now, I would like to start out in a classroom trying to make a difference in a few kids' lives."

Clough: Shack's Summer Worthwhile At The Emily Krzyzewski Center

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Rachel Shack

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Clough: Shack's Summer Worthwhile At The Emily Krzyzewski Center

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