BOSTON – Duke Athletics was named the recipient of the 2023 Team IMPACT Division I Fellowship Campus of the Year Award, the organization announced.
 
Duke works closely with Team IMPACT, which is a nonprofit organization that matches children facing serious illness and disability with college sports teams. The Blue Devils have seven active teams paired with children in women's basketball, football, cross country and track & field, softball, women's soccer, men's golf, and men's tennis. In Team IMPACT's 11-year history, Duke has had 18 all-time matches.
 
"Duke University is both honored and humbled to receive the 2023 Fellowship Award as we deeply value our relationship with the Team IMPACT organization," Duke Vice President and Director of Athletics Nina King said. "The commitment to cultivating this partnership by our representatives has been incredible and Emmy, Anthony, Ryleigh, Josie and Sean -- along with so many other student-athletes, coaches and staff members -- are to be commended for their dedication and leadership." 

   

In 2018, Team IMPACT launched its Fellowship Program and has since welcomed 220 Fellows from across the country. These Fellows represent Team IMPACT on their campuses and collaborate with their athletic departments and greater campus communities to raise awareness and increase program participation. While all student-athletes, who are matched with Team IMPACT teammates, play a pivotal role in the success of the program, the Fellows take extra steps to promote the experience on and beyond their campus community. Team IMPACT creates additional opportunities for networking and leadership development for Fellows throughout each year.
 
The Team IMPACT Fellows on Duke's campus are Emmy Duerr (Women's Soccer), Anthony Hinton (Football), Ryleigh Katstra (Rowing), Josie Varney (Field Hockey), Sean Kehoe (non student-athlete). In addition, King serves as a member of the Team IMPACT Athletic Advisory Board.
 
"Fellows are charged with thinking collaboratively and creatively to support the development of Team IMPACT on their campus and in their community," Team IMPACT National Director of Programs Amy VanRyn said. "Our Fellows are leaders on their teams and among their peers. They motivate themselves and others by sharing their enthusiasm and passion in everything they do. Team IMPACT wouldn't be where it is today without our Fellows and we want to recognize and appreciate how much these three campuses have done for us this year."

  
 
In collaboration with the athletics department, the Duke Fellows were able to plan two Team IMPACT awareness games, a movie night, and a trip to a football bowl game, as well as numerous other team-sponsored activities with their respective Team IMPACT partner.
 
The Fellowship Awards were created to recognize the hard work of different individuals and teams over the course of a year and to highlight the dedication, creative ideas, and growth of programming across these campuses. The other two campuses who were recognized this year were Daemen University (Division II) and Springfield College (Division III).
 
Duke will be presented its award at Team IMPACT's fourth annual Fellowship Summit on July 13th at 5 p.m. at the Vertex Pharmaceuticals office in Boston, Mass.
 
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