By Dylan Howlett
As the foliage around campus drapes itself in an autumnal hue, it won’t let us forget about Durham Academy’s enriching student summers that we first explored in August. Our second installment features a quartet of Upper Schoolers who spent their summers constructing, and reconstructing, worlds both tactile and ephemeral. From archaeological digs and interminable weeding to Shark Tank-style contests and the exacting craftsmanship of ring-making, these students found the “Moral, Happy, Productive” life sometimes requires a little handiwork, a healthy dose of patience and soaring perseverance.
Welcome to the second part of a series that highlights the mission-driven summer life — which, at times, includes a lot of sweat, dirt and blisters along the way.
Shreya Rao ’25
When she was 10, Shreya Rao visited India and made note of two prevalent sights: flip-flops and painful blisters. The preponderance of sandal usage, and the related epidemic of blisters caused by uncomfortable straps, led Rao to her first entrepreneurial venture two years later with the founding of Surfsyde, a line of stylish and comfortable sandals that emphasized foot health.
The process was not without pitfalls. “It was a steep learning curve,” said Rao, who was 12 when the company launched. “I made a lot of mistakes. It was stressful at times. It was incredibly rewarding at times ... How did I even do that?”
Rao developed a proprietary design, known as rolled inner seam strap design (RIS), that places far less pressure at the toehold than traditional open-toe footwear. The design holds particular relief for those with diabetes or other chronic diseases who are more prone to foot ulcers. That potential impact earned Rao an invitation to present her findings on the impact of RIS — and moderate a panel — at this year’s International Conference on Diabetes, Metabolism and Endocrinology, which will be held Oct. 16–18 in Boston.
None of this — the landmark design, the scientific studies, the public outreach — would have been possible, Rao said, had she not advocated for more support during her initial forays into entrepreneurship.
“I found there were a lot of resources for college students,” Rao said. “I was like, ‘Well, I’d love to be an entrepreneur. I want resources for me.’”
Rao, an 11th-grader at DA, later started ULaunch, an organization that equips young entrepreneurs with the necessary savvy — writing business plans, forming a marketing strategy, accessing seed money — to turn a bold idea into a viable model. It has spawned four chapters nationwide and landed notable grants. The Jack Linger Explorer Grant supported virtual workshops for young entrepreneurs in Congo and India.
Another grant, from NC IDEA Engage, pledged those scarce resources. It enabled the creation of Jumpstart, a Shark Tank-style pitch competition for young entrepreneurs that would provide seed money — totaling $5,000 — for burgeoning ideas.
DA hosted the inaugural event Aug. 18 at Smith Assembly Hall, and Rao was the logistical linchpin. “I felt like an octopus at times,” she said, laughing. She made introductory speeches, managed her team and rectified technical issues. Participants made 13 unique pitches to a panel of judges that featured the head of the marketing and sales team at American Underground; the director of the Duke Institute for Health Innovation, who also serves as Rao’s mentor; and the general counsel for a Duke pediatric service.
The winning idea came from a feminine hygiene product that can detect cervical cancer. The judges said, however, that every idea was worth pursuing. Therein lies a maxim that resonates deeply with Rao, who plans on turning Jumpstart into an annual event.
“That’s why I love business,” Rao said. “Your failures are actually your successes sometimes.”
Marit Rudolph ’26
Within a two-week period this July, Marit Rudolph analyzed ancient tombs, labeled ancient artifacts and participated in a documentary. So it goes as an assistant to archaeologists on an excavation team.
Rudolph spent that memorable fortnight at the ruins of Perge, an ancient city on the southern coast of Turkey. The rising sophomore was the youngest member of a team of international researchers that comprised professors at the University of Istanbul and seven graduate students. They lived onsite together during weekends and worked nine-hour days during the week.
The team discovered a profusion of broken pottery pieces in the necropolis, or the burial place of an ancient city. Rudolph was in charge of photographing, labeling and recording each of the pieces, all of which are foundational skills for beginning archaeologists.
Her favorite day onsite, however, came when Rudolph assisted a graduate student who was collecting data for research on murals and wall paintings. They examined tombs in the necropolis and the walls of the bathhouse. The same day, Rudolph observed a team of art historians running an excavation — and on a separate day, she was featured in the filming of a documentary about Perge.
“I loved my experience with the excavation team at Perge,” Rudolph said in an email. “My interest in archaeology was deepened greatly, and I am so thankful to everyone on the team. They are such smart people, and I learned so much from them.”
Those feelings were mutual. The team invited Rudolph back for next summer — and this time, Rudolph said, she plans on staying for more than two weeks.
Margaret Hulka ’24
In 2020, Margaret Hulka attended a farmer’s market — known as Saturday Slowdown — at RambleRill Farm in Hillsborough. This is so cool, Hulka thought. She approached Darin Knapp and Jane Saiers, the owners of the farm, and asked for their information. Two weeks later, the COVID-19 pandemic reached Durham.
Almost exactly three years later, in March 2023, Hulka returned to Saturday Slowdown, which had grown in size since Hulka’s first visit. She found Knapp and Saiers to say hello. “I talked to you three years ago,” Hulka told them. “I wonder if you remember me?” They did, and they were receptive when Hulka expressed interest in one day working on the certified organic farm.
That day came this summer. Hulka spent her time off from DA working the RambleRill fields alongside Knapp and Saiers. They planted, harvested, pruned and weeded, through the oppressive heat and worse humidity. The farm doesn’t use any pesticides or herbicides, which made the toiling all the more arduous. “It’s really about being attentive,” Hulka said. “You have to do stuff every single day. It’s those little tasks that you have to do. Even though they’re mundane, and sometimes they’re super hard, you just have to do them — even when it’s 95 degrees and you’re hot. It just has to be done.”
Hulka passed those hours by asking Knapp and Saiers, who both hold doctorates in neuroscience, about their academic careers and their advanced degrees. Hulka said she already planned on pursuing neuroscience in college, and the conversations during weeding with Knapp and Saiers only deepened her interest.
“Thinking about how our brains interact with agriculture and understanding what we eat and how we farm, and how those things affect us both neurologically and physically, is such an interesting concept to me,” Hulka said.
Her summer also demystified for Hulka the simple science of farming and sustaining life. “I didn’t know anything,” Hulka said of her time before working at RambleRill. Her family attempted to grow a garden every year, and every year they would produce a garden that yielded more weeds than crops. The annual failure was a sign, Hulka assumed, that she wasn’t smart enough to keep her plants alive. “It takes one Google search or one conversation with someone who knows what they’re doing, and they’ll just be like, ‘Water this plant every three days,’” Hulka said. And that’s all you have to do.”
Hulka will continue working at Saturday Slowdowns during the school year when she’s available. And she has some ideas for planting on her own time. “I would love,” Hulka said, “to at least have a garden for myself.”
Valen Moore ’27
Sometimes, Valen Moore knows, an artist’s muse is never more than a few clicks away. “Random people on YouTube would be my inspiration,” he said.
The ninth-grader would watch video after video featuring a lathe, the large horizontal tool used for woodworking. He found it entrancing. “There’s something really satisfying about being able to take off that much wood,” Moore said.
He got a lathe for Christmas. After about six months of experimenting, Moore decided to eschew the common beginner’s path of making vases and bowls. He decided to make rings. The standard style, he found, involved wrapping a piece of wood around a piece of metal. “I kind of wanted to take that a little bit further,” Moore said.
This summer, he did. Moore began working with engravings and learned how to achieve metal inlays to design more intricate patterns. His repertoire now includes silver rings, as well as rings that have been carved out and replaced with resin to produce a colorful, abstract design.
The payoff is both spiritual and literal. Moore’s process, when seamless, can spit out a ring in just a few hours. This fall, he launched his first Etsy page — ValenMooreDesign — and plans to continue building out his inventory. But Moore says he gets much more from woodworking than a commodity to be sold.
“I’ve been working with wood for a long time,” Moore said. “I think it’s kind of calming, and it’s sort of reliable for me. It’s something I’ve always loved doing, and I’ve loved just being able to have that finished product that I can look and say, ‘I made that.’”