DURHAM, N.C. -- When Parker Goyer (’07) played tennis at Duke, her athletic training schedule made it difficult for her to participate in study abroad and civic engagement programs. An informal survey of other student-athletes told her the problem was widespread, and in true Duke fashion, she decided to do something about it.
She founded Coach for College, an independent organization that allows student-athletes to apply their athletic skills in an international service-learning program. Designed to reduce the drop-out rate of middle school students in Vietnam, the organization gives student-athletes from the United States the opportunity to teach sports, academics and life skills classes to underserved children in Vietnam’s rural Mekong river basin.