Fall 2006
Senior Sally Ong Refuses to be Complacent
After spending the summer of 2004 in Tanzania assisting in health-care outreach, Ong returned to Duke University with a mission: to figure out how her peers could share similar influential, productive experiences in low-resource environments. Through the Enterprising Leadership Initiative (ELI), Ong and a fellow Hart Leadership Program (HLP) participant founded SEE! TheWorld. The program integrates service learning into students' study abroad experiences.
Now, Ong is being honored for her efforts. She is the inaugural recipient of the North Carolina Campus Compact (NCCC) Community Impact Student Award. The award recognizes students who “have made significant, innovative contributions to campus-based efforts to address community needs.” Ong is one of 21 students in North Carolina to be honored for their achievements.
Ong will be recognized November 11, 2006 at North Carolina State University . State Senator Janet Cowell and Representative Linda Coleman will present the award to Ong before an audience of more than 240 college students representing three states and 26 schools.
A biology major with a concentration is neuroscience, Ong is a native of Malaysia . During her time at Duke, she has served as the Director of International Outreach for Unite for Sight (UFS), a 501(c)3 organization that works in 25 countries to eliminate preventable blindness worldwide. She has received numerous awards for her work with UFS. Ong also helped organize the AIDSClimb event, serves as the Tanzania country director for Orphans Against AIDS, was the president of the International Association, and served as a member of the education sub-committee of the University Global Health Steering Committee, which is overseen by Duke's provost and chancellor of health affairs.
In addition to participating in ELI, Ong also participated in Service Opportunities in Leadership (SOL), another HLP program. Through a SOL summer grant in 2005, Ong completed a community-based research project in a Liberian refugee camp called Buduburam, based in Ghana . In addition to helping medical staff conduct glaucoma screenings, Ong investigated ways non-governmental organizations could provide eye care services to the Buduburam camp, home of 30,000 refugees.
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