As head residential advisor for the Duke Youth Academy, Emily Dueitt oversaw day-to-day logistics, including serving lunch, above, in the Refectory Café.

As a 16-year-old, Emily Dueitt found the two-week Duke Youth Academy intense and demanding.

That is just what is intended.

Days at the academy begin and end with communal prayer; in between are periods of study, servant ministry, artistic exploration, shared hospitality with strangers at meals, and worship. No electronic devices are allowed.

Despite the monastic structure, teenagers from across the country have come to Duke for the past six summers eager to discuss such questions as “How do Christians speak?” and “How do Christians practice their faith?”

Each morning they attend plenary sessions with some of Duke Divinity’s best-known scholars, re-examine ancient Christian rituals, and explore ways to live more abundantly in Christ.

For Dueitt, the biggest surprise was the Youth Academy’s intellectual rigor.

“I didn’t expect it to be as academic as it was, but that was my favorite thing about it,” she says. “Hearing the faculty members share their wisdom, knowledge and love of teaching was an amazing experience.”

Her experience at Duke Youth Academy (DYA) inspired Dueitt’s decision to return to The Divinity School in August, this time as a member of the master of divinity degree, Class of 2009. She has now committed to three years of intense academics, spiritual formation, contextual learning and service-in preparation for a lifetime of ministry.

And she couldn’t be happier.

“This is my spiritual home,” says Dueitt, a May graduate of Huntington College and the second DYA alumnus to choose Duke for seminary since the program’s inception in 2001. “God definitely led me here.”

Although she was a veteran of church camps and retreats, “This was the most influential program I ever attended,” says Dueitt of DYA. The bonds forged that summer were so meaningful that she returned twice as a staff member.

In 2005 she worked as a residence advisor (R.A.); during the past summer she served as head R.A., overseeing day-to-day logistics with Elizabeth Ingram Schindler, assistant director of DYA and 2006 graduate of The Divinity School. Dueitt also edited DYA’s daily online journal.

“Emily has a multitude of gifts,” says Ingram Schindler. “She has an incredible spirit of joy and energy.”

The congregation of Cedar Grove United Methodist Church prepared this meal with organic foods from its own gardens.

Among Dueitt’s tasks was making certain that students got to bed (and up) on time. For those who had trouble surviving without TVs, iPods, headsets and cell phones, she explained simply, kindly and often with humor that these devices can hinder efforts to function “as a Christian community.”

Unlike many current approaches to youth ministry, DYA doesn’t begin with what youth perceive they need for spiritual fulfillment, says Fred Edie, DYA director and assistant professor of the practice of Christian education at Duke.

“Our starting point is God’s redemptive activity through Jesus Christ in the world, and the invitation for students to become involved in what God is doing.”

In addition to learning the language of theology, teens are expected to lead daily worship, reflect honestly in mentoring groups, and serve in demanding settings, including with people who are ill, dying or homeless, says Edie.

Although it’s too early to judge the program’s full impact, several alumni are entering seminary, or serving congregations as youth workers, or as student pastors. James “Hutch” Stull, who also attended the first DYA in 2001, began seminary at Duke in the fall of 2005.

What the staff hears from alumni is that “Duke Youth Academy stands as a benchmark for many, or, better, a kind of Rubicon. They divide their lives into 'before and after’ DYA,” says Edie.

Michael Boone DYA’02 returned as a residence assistant in 2004. A senior at Florida State University majoring in political science and religion, Boone serves on the youth ministry staff of St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Tallahassee, Fla.

He regularly uses concepts learned from DYA at St. Peter’s, which is one of several churches across the nation that Duke has designated a Teaching Congregation based on exemplary pastoral and congregational life.

These counter-cultural practices came directly from his time as a student and then as a staff member at DYA.

As Dueitt looks ahead, she can imagine herself in the role of a Christian educator in the United Methodist church.

“I’d love that,” she says. “Then again, there are times when I think maybe I’m supposed to be an elder. All will be revealed in the next couple of years. I’m keeping my eyes open.”

Debbie Selinsky is former deputy director of the Duke News Service, where she wrote about Duke Divinity School for 12 years.

Student DYA participants are selected from an application process that includes writing two essays and getting recommendation letters from a pastor and another adult. Get more information about DYA 2007, or to read the 2006 online journal.

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