Duke University | Baldwin Scholars Program

To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world.

 Hi, I'm Chantel. I grew up in a small suburb of Detroit, Michigan, where I was very comfortable and one of the only minority students in my schools. Then my parents sent me to a diverse, all-girls, Catholic school an hour away from my house and pushed me far outside of my comfort zone. Since then, I have realized the value of diversity and want to be pushed outside of my comfort zone in both social and academic areas.

I am currently a sophomore at Duke and very excited for my future in the Baldwin Scholars program. I love to meet new people and am always trying to diversify my group of friends. At Duke, I am involved in Project Child, a tutoring program in Durham, and the In Motion dance group. I do not have a set major right now, but I am considering majoring in Neuroscience with a concentration in Global Health. I am a member of Know Your Staus, an HIV/AIDS awareness group on campus that also does HIV screening. HIV/AIDS research and treatment in underdeveloped and impoverished communities is one of my top interests. I am also interested in womens studies because of my positive experience in all-girls school. I want to participate in a study abroad program, hopefully in Ghana, and a Duke Engage program in Haiti. 

I participated in the Howard Hughes Research Fellows program over the summer and had an amazing experience. The purpose of my research was to learn more about the gene spastin which, if over expressed, can cause neurodegenerative diseases in humans usually resulting in a life confined to a wheel chair. In my research, I crossed flies of different genotypes to create a generation of flies with the human form of the spastin gene. I tested these flies and analyzed the difference between spastin expressions in various conditions. My research helped to discern more about how spastin functions and how neurological functions are affected by outside influences. This information can hopefully be used to help humans suffering from spastin related neurodegenerative diseases. At the end of the summer I felt I had learned a great deal and was excited to know that my small part could potentially aid people suffering from neurological disorders.

If you want to know more about me, feel free to friend me on facebook or e-mail me at clm51@duke.edu.