NCCU and Duke students deepen understanding of religious diversity in Durham

This past summer, six students from Duke University and North Carolina Central University (NCCU) deepened their understanding of the city where they attend college and learned skills for relating across religious and cultural differences.

As participants in the Bridge Internship program, the students lived together in Durham’s West End neighborhood, served in community organizations and discussed readings about faith, character and purpose.

The program was supported by a nearly $50,000 grant from Wake Forest University’s Character Education Initiative shape next-generation leaders at both universities.

In reflecting on their experiences, the students described how their internships built on what they have learned in the classroom, how they feel more connected to the city of Durham and how conversations with each other formed friendships across their different religious backgrounds.

For NCCU sophomore Angel Bowden, her internship gave her practical experience related to her pre-nursing major. She worked at Armstrong Center of Hope, a counseling and psychotherapy practice that strives to inspire hope, renew the mind and cultivate peace for its clients.

“It really taught me that mental health is important, and it’s always OK to ask for help, and it’s always OK to check in on yourself to make sure everything’s good,” Bowden said. “It also taught me a lot of office skills for a mental health facility.”

The students also learned from one another, sharing meals, chores, and conversations that were sometimes structured around assigned readings and sometimes spontaneous and informal.

As someone who comes from a Bhutanese refugee community, Duke senior Pratikchhya Rimal said she is used to engaging with people from other cultures but hadn’t previously been in a setting where she could deeply explore those differences.

“Living in the PathWays House and being deliberate in recognizing our differences in religion and backgrounds and learning to live with them and understand more about them—that’s something I hadn’t really done before.” — Pratikchhya Rimal ’26

The Rev. Dr. Gloria Winston, one of the Bridge Internship’s leaders and the executive director of NCCU Wesley Campus Ministry, said she noticed how the students opened up to one another and the program’s approach to bridging differences.

“It doesn’t matter whether they’re preparing meals together or touring a historic location—when they reflect on those experiences, they find commonalities,” Rev. Dr. Winston said. “We know there are differences, but when they are together in the Bridge Internship, there’s a oneness that comes out of it that says, ‘I’m a Bridge Intern.’”

“Understanding your own faith and the faith of others is so important for living in Durham and in the wider world,” said the Rev. Bruce Puckett, another program leader and the assistant dean of Duke Chapel. “This summer, I saw these students grow in their interfaith literacy and in their sense of this city’s religious diversity.”

It wasn’t just the students who found the program valuable. Community leaders who supervised the students expressed their appreciation for the talents and dedication the students brought to their internships.”

Dr. Tonya Armstrong, CEO of the Armstrong Center for Hope and a Duke alumna, said it has been inspiring to watch the journeys of the Bridge interns in her practice.

“The concept of a young person garnering new administrative skills, while also keeping an eye on their overall career trajectory is one that I am very devoted to,” she said. “We support the mission of bridging different communities, and as a Durham native, I have a special commitment to making sure that Durham thrives.”

Calleen Herbert, another one of the program’s leaders and the director of the NCCU Office of Community Engagement and Service, agrees.

“This partnership has been invaluable to the students from each of our institutions who had the opportunity to engage in a transformative experience,” Herbert said.