My name is Ema Klugman and I am thrilled to be a Baldwin scholar. I have grown up with the encouragement from my parents, my mentors, and my peers to become the strongest and most ambitious woman that I can be. I have a complicated cultural identity, being a citizen of Australia but having lived most of my life in Washington, DC and having been born in Florence. I have also made homes in Nairobi and New York along the way.
I am spontaneous and brave. I have always loved literature and the humanities in general, but my intellectual sphere has widened considerably with the possibilities that Duke has offered me so far. I am currently studying subjects like literature, economics, and history, and I am unsure what my major will be. When I am not reading or writing, I am usually riding horses or playing the piano. On campus, I coordinate events for a sexual assault awareness and prevention group called We Are Here Duke, participate in putting together and publishing the literary arts magazine The Archive, and argue with my peers as a member of the debate team. I also love to travel, to go on hiking adventures, to teach horse riding, to live out of a backpack in unfamiliar places, and to hitch-hike.
I cannot wait to see what my education and extracurricular experiences at Duke afford me in the next four years. I know that women have the power to be leaders, but I also know that we must keep seizing it. I look forward experiencing and contributing to the synergy of the Baldwin scholars program.