PHOTOS: Spike Lee Visits Practice

Earlier this semester, Quinn Cook decided to write his final Writing 20 paper in Professor Katya Wesolowski’s “Documenting Lives” about Spike Lee.  The freshman guard is a big fan of Lee so the topic selection was an easy choice.

During the research stage of the paper, Quinn traveled to NYC to compete against Michigan State.  The legendary filmmaker is a huge basketball fan and happened to attend the game, seated in his usual spot in the first row at the Garden (which ended up being near the Duke bench).

As the game transpired, Quinn and our academic coordinator Kenny King were able to connect with Spike about a possible phone interview.  The end result, however, was even more amazing.  It turns out that Spike had agreed to speak to a large campus group last night at UNC as well as visit Duke to speak to Professor Maurice Wallace’s English 189 class, “The Films of Spike Lee.”

So, the film director/producer/writer/actor arranged with Kenny and Professor Wallace to stop by practice in Cameron beforehand.  Afterwards, Spike spoke with Coach K, posed for some photos and then sat down with Quinn.

Quinn asked the producer of over 35 films various questions about his favorite movie scenes, Denzel Washington, Malcolm X, movie production and more. Quinn and Spike also talked about Quinn’s recruiting process and NBA basketball.  Both guys enjoy Kobe Bryant (Kobe is Quinn’s favorite player and Spike made a movie about the Lakers star), and enjoyed sharing various predictions for the coming season.

One of the most memorable movie-related stories that Spike shared was about his work with Denzel Washington for the movie, Malcolm X.   When Quinn asked what it was like working with Denzel, Spike responded, “Denzel is the best actor alive today.  He knew he had to get the spirit of Malcolm to enter his vessel — his body — and then he could get the essence of the man.  How did he do that?   It’s the same thing with you athletes.  You gotta prepare.   You can’t just show up for the [game] and win.  Denzel started to prepare for Malcolm X a year before.  So for a year, he didn’t work on another movie.  He started to learn how to read in Arabic, how to read the Quran, how to pray in Arabic.  He stopped eating pork, he stopped drinking.  He thought, ‘I can’t be playing a Muslim and still be eating that pig.’  Can’t do it.  He knew if he did all of these things the spirit of Malcolm would come through.  That’s a true story.”

The pair spoke for almost 15 minutes before Spike headed over to campus to visit with Professor Wallace’s class.  Quinn shuffled back to the locker room with a big smile on his face.  “That was Spike Lee,” he said.  “That was Spike Lee!  Know him.”

Statistics for the Graduation Success Rate were released in late October and Duke Basketball was one of just five major conference schools to post a perfect 100% GSR.  The GSR is based on student-athletes who entered college as freshmen in 2001-2004 and allows for the removal of those individuals from the cohort who left school in good academic standing.

A total of 13 Duke teams achieved a 100 percent GSR: men’s basketball, men’s golf, men’s swimming and diving, men’s tennis, women’s basketball, women’s cross country/track and field, women’s fencing, field hockey, women’s golf, women’s lacrosse, women’s soccer, women’s tennis and volleyball.

Duke’s remaining nine programs – baseball (95), men’s cross country/track & field (93), men’s fencing (93), football (93), men’s lacrosse (96), men’s soccer (93), wrestling (97), rowing (96) and women’s swimming and diving (97) – all achieved a GSR of 93 percent of better.  For the second time in the past three years, all 22 sports posted a GSR of 90 percent or better.

Duke’s 97 percent Graduation Success Rate is tops in the ACC, equaled by Boston College (97) and followed by Wake Forest (94), Virginia Tech (91), Miami (89), North Carolina (88), Virginia (87), Clemson (82), Maryland (82), Florida State (79), Georgia Tech (77) and N.C. State (74).

Joining Duke Basketball with a perfect GSR among major conference schools (ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12, SEC) was Notre Dame, Illinois, Villanova and Wake Forest.

ACC Basketball GSR
Duke- 100
Wake Forest- 100
Boston College- 89
UNC- 89
VA Tech- 86
NC State- 82
Miami- 82
Clemson- 67
FSU- 67
UVA- 50
Maryland- 46
GA Tech- 27

Kyrie Irving, selected with the first pick in last June’s draft, is back on campus taking classes during the NBA lockout.  The young phenom was featured this morning on the CBS Early Show where he discussed his decision to return to school.  Kyrie offers some glowing praise for his experiences on campus, telling CBS, “I don’t like the vibe (on campus), I love it.  I love Duke.  I am back here because I love it.  Duke is the place.”

Watch the full segment here:

The annual U.S. News & World Report rankings of America’s best colleges were recently released and Duke is positioned in the Top 10 for the 23rd straight year.  Duke is the lone school among the top 20 that has won a pair of national championships in men’s basketball.

U.S. News singled out Duke in four of eight categories of “programs to look for,” which it described as programs education experts consider especially important for helping undergraduates achieve success.  Duke was cited in the categories for study abroad, service learning, writing in the disciplines and undergraduate research/creative projects.  Also, Duke was ranked ninth in the “great schools, great prices” category for which the magazine compares a school’s academic quality with the net cost of attendance for a student who receives the average level of need-based financial aid.

For the 23rd time in 24 years, Duke student-athletes lead the way on the ACC Honor Roll.  425 Blue Devil athletes made the 2010-11 list, including six of our men’s basketball players.

Ryan Kelly, Dave Mayer, Mason Plumlee, Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith and Todd Zafirovski earned spots on the honor roll as Duke matched Boston College for the most men’s basketball roster players on the list (no other school had more than four).  Those six Blue Devils have combined for a men’s basketball conference-best nine career honor roll selections.

Congrats to our guys and all of our well-rounded Duke athletes for another year atop the honor roll leaderboard!  And before we go, we have to give a shout-out to our academic coordinator, Kenny King.  Nolan agrees, tweeting “Hey @dukeblueplanet. Give a big shout out to Kenny King for being the best Academic Advisor in the game!!! #salute”

2010-11 Honor Roll Selections – All Sports
1. Duke: 425
2. Boston College: 407
3. Maryland: 280
4. Virginia: 250
5. UNC: 247
6. NC State: 213
7. VA Tech: 208
8. Clemson: 195
9. FSU: 182
10. GA Tech: 150
11. Miami: 149
12. Wake Forest: 128
*Duke has led the ACC in 23 of the past 24 seasons

Junior Miles Plumlee is among six Blue Devil recipients of the 2011 ACC Top Six for Service Award.  The award goes to athletes at Duke who demonstrate dedication to community service.

Miles volunteered at a local elementary school throughout the year and “The Plumlee Effect” has had a nice impact at Southwest Elementary.  The Indiana native met with several hundred Durham elementary school students on April 15th as part of their tour of Duke’s athletic facilities.  In addition, the second-team All-ACC Tournament choice is active in the “Read with the Blue Devils” program.

Miles gives a lift to Durham elementary school students

]]> http://blog.dukeblueplanet.com/2011/04/miles-wins-service-award/feed/ 0 http://blog.dukeblueplanet.com/2011/03/2015-crazies-on-the-way/ http://blog.dukeblueplanet.com/2011/03/2015-crazies-on-the-way/#comments Fri, 01 Apr 2011 02:16:06 +0000 Dave Bradley http://blog.dukeblueplanet.com/?p=4017

Four Blue Devil hoopers are among 3,739 high school seniors admitted to join the Duke University Class of 2015.  Austin Rivers, Marshall Plumlee, Quinn Cook and Mike Gbinije will join an impressive freshman class that was selected from a Duke-record 29,689 applicants.

Duke’s class of 2015 admission rate was just 12.6% after an 11% increase in applicants from last year (46% increase from three years ago!).  California and North Carolina are the most represented states followed by New York, Florida and Texas.

“This was an incredibly challenging year, both for the applicants and for the staff of the admissions office,” stated Christoph Guttentag, dean of undergraduate admissions.  “We wanted to ensure that every application received a thorough review, while being aware that we had a limited amount of time to do so.”

]]> http://blog.dukeblueplanet.com/2011/03/2015-crazies-on-the-way/feed/ 0 http://blog.dukeblueplanet.com/2011/03/3-devils-named-all-acc-academic/ http://blog.dukeblueplanet.com/2011/03/3-devils-named-all-acc-academic/#comments Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:23:53 +0000 Dave Bradley http://blog.dukeblueplanet.com/?p=3900

Ryan Kelly, Mason Plumlee, Kyle Singler named to 2011 All-ACC Academic Team

On Wednesday, Ryan, Mason and Kyle were named to the 2011 All-ACC Academic Team, marking the 17th straight year at least one Blue Devil has made the ACC’s academic squad.  To be eligible for consideration, an athlete must have earned a 3.00 GPA for the previous semester and maintained a 3.00 cumulative average during his academic career.

Duke was the lone school to place three players on the squad and has averaged over two selections per year over the last 15 seasons.  Congrats to Ryan, Mason and Kyle for finding that balance at a high level on and off the court!

Most All-ACC Academic Team Selections since 1985
Duke: 50
UVA: 36
Wake Forest: 32
UNC: 31
Clemson: 26

*Over the past 15 years, Duke has produced 34 All-ACC Academic Team selections, 13 more than any school (Clemson is second with 21).

*Duke has had a player on the ACC All-Academic Basketball Team for 17 straight years.  Clemson has the second-longest streak going at nine years.

*Since 1995, Duke has placed three players on the All-ACC Academic Team in seven different seasons including 2011.  The rest of the league combined has had six teams place three players on the team in a single season (excluding Duke).

Ryan Kelly was named to the All-ACC Academic Team for the second straight year.

Duke’s All-ACC Academic Selections in the Coach K Era

1983… Chip Engelland

1986… Mark Alarie, Quin Snyder

1987… Quin Synder

1988… Quin Synder

1989… Danny Ferry, Quin Snyder

1990… Crawford Palmer

1991… Bill McCaffrey

1993… Thomas Hill, Antonio Lang

1995… Erik Meek, Chris Collins, Steve Wojciechowski

1996… Taymon Domzalski, Matt Christensen, Todd Singleton

1997… Jeff Capel, Trajan Langdon, Carmen Wallace, Steve Wojciechowski

1998… Shane Battier, Mike Chappell, Taymon Domzalski

1999… Taymon Domzalski, Trajan Langdon

2000… Shane Battier, Mike Dunleavy

2001… Shane Battier, Matt Christensen, Mike Dunleavy

2002… Mike Dunleavy, Dahntay Jones, Jason Williams

2003… Nick Horvath

2004… Chris Duhon, Nick Horvath

2005… Lee Melchionni , J.J. Redick

2006… Greg Paulus, Martynas Pocius

2007… Martynas Pocius

2008… Greg Paulus, Brian Zoubek

2009… Greg Paulus, Brian Zoubek

2010… Ryan Kelly, Brian Zoubek

2011… Ryan Kelly, Mason Plumlee, Kyle Singler

Ryan Kelly tackles PPS major

Hello Duke fans! For this month’s issue, I thought it would be interesting to check in with ACC All-Academic honoree Ryan Kelly. Ryan is currently pursuing a major in Public Policy Studies as well as a certificate in Markets and Management Studies. The Raleigh native’s passion for serving the community stems from his parents’ life-long careers in education. At Duke, Ryan continues to develop the skills necessary for shaping policy — especially in the field of education — in the 21st century.

Q&A with Ryan

Why did you decide on PPS for your major?
I declared for Public Policy a little over a month ago. Freshman year I took a couple of Public Policy classes and it sparked my interest. I’ve continued to follow through with it and I like the classes.

What class in particular sparked your interest?
My favorite class for Public Policy was a “Children in Contemporary Societies” class, which is based around educational policy. This includes different programs for after-school kids, keeping kids away from drugs, and general policies that help kids get through elementary, middle, and high school.

What was it like having two teachers as parents?
It’s been really neat for me to have two parents that are educators. My dad teaches AP physics in high school and he taught me my senior year. My mom was the principal of my elementary school and now is the head of Ravenscroft (where Ryan attended high school). Their educational background was always a good thing, especially when my basketball career started to become more and more important. They really kept me grounded in understanding that education had to come first and one day basketball was unfortunately going to end. They’ve always harked on this and while I haven’t always liked it when they made me do my homework Sunday night, I am better for it.

Who’s the tougher disciplinarian: your mom or your dad?
My dad dealt with the big issues. Whenever I didn’t do well on a test, he was the one who would give me sarcastic comments and make me feel like I had to do better next time. He kind of put the pressure on me to do it myself. My mom was the nit-picky one who would have something to say to me if I didn’t do well on a quiz or something. They really put it in my hands as a student — they had high expectations, with faith and trust that I would live up to them.

How’d you do in the course with your dad (AP Physics)?
I aced it! It wasn’t even an ace because of him. He didn’t like it too much because he didn’t think I studied enough for his class and the AP exam. I took the AP exam, even though he told me over and over that I wasn’t studying enough, and I got a 5 (perfect score) on the AP exam so I killed it! He doesn’t want to admit it but I think he was a little mad.

As part of the Public Policy major requirements, you have to do an internship. Have you thought about where you want to intern?
There would be a lot of cool areas to work in Public Policy, but I’ve heard that Arne Duncan (U.S. Secretary of Education) is a basketball guy so it’d be pretty cool to work with him. Maybe we can shoot some hoops during lunch like President Obama does and play some one on one.

Are there any specific types of programs that have caught your interest?
I know a lot of people that have done Teach for America, and that’s a great program. I think it’d be neat to work on policies that help kids who, because they don’t think they’re going to have enough money, don’t see college as an attainable goal. We have financial aid in this country, but a program that I think that can continue to grow is to help more and more kids get to college. The opportunities available at a college or university and where they can take you is amazing.

Favorite subject growing up?
I was always a math and science kind of guy growing up. I liked algebra and all my sciences, but I ended up doing the best on the writing portion of my SAT’s.

What is the key to balancing basketball and academics at a high level?
You have to understand time management, and take advantage of the opportunities at your disposal. You have to use your time wisely. Basketball for me is a main focus in my life, but it can’t be my only focus.

Favorite book of all time?
Five People You Meet in Heaven.

Last book you read for pleasure?
The Hobbit.

Paperback or e-books?
Nowadays I have to go with e-books. They’re a lot easier.

Ink color for your pens?
Of course Blue.

Public Policy Major Requirements

Required Courses
• Pubpol 55D – Introduction to Policy Analysis
• Pubpol 114 – Political Analysis for Public Policy
• Pubpol 116 – Policy Choice as Value Conflct
• Pubpol 128 – Microeconomic Policy Tools
• Pubpol 132 – The Economics of the Public Sector
• Stats 101 – Statistics and Data in Public Policy

Electives
• 4 public policy electives at the 100 or 200 level
• 1 history elective

Policy-Related Summer Internship

Big man has big impact advancing study at local elementary school

Hello Duke fans! I wanted to highlight an exciting collaborative effort between Miles Plumlee and his advisor in the psychology department –- Dr. Makeba Wilbourn. Dr. Wilbourn’s research at Southwest Elementary School in Durham examines the relationship between language development and academic achievement in K through fifth graders. In particular, this study explores how children from various diverse backgrounds learn new information and what impact early language experiences have on later academic achievement. For the past two semesters, Miles has not only helped Dr. Wilbourn recruit students to participate in her study but also served as a role model to various other students during his visits to Southwest Elementary. He’s scheduled to continue working with students next semester as part of Dr. Christina Grimes’ methods course entitled “Child Observation”. Needless to say — Miles continues to have a BIG impact on and off the court. ENJOY!

Q&A WITH MILES

Tell us about your visits to Southwest Elementary…
Miles: My psychology professor and academic advisor was doing a really cool study with students at Southwest Elementary. They have a unique language immersion program there where kids are taught as much Spanish as English in their subject material. She was studying how that impacts their learning. She had a lot of trouble getting the forms back to complete the study because the kids weren’t that enthused about filling out the form. I guess for some reason I am exciting to them and I got them excited to bring it back. She ended up getting almost all the forms returned.

How did the kids react to seeing you and what was your reaction?
Miles: It ended up being a lot of fun. I ended up getting them really excited about contributing to the study. Last year I came back for a special visit with the people who brought back the most forms. It was cool to meet with the kids and of course I love to eat pizza. We played a lot of games and it works out really well for me. I feel fortunate that I can help my professor, make all the kids really happy and learn a lot through the experience too.

Q&A WITH PROF. WILBOURN

How did this collaborative effort with Miles come about?
Prof. Wilbourn: I approached Miles with my idea of having him come to the school with me as part of his coursework in my PSY 103RE Developmental Psychology course. The goal was to provide the kids with a “guess-who-came-to-my-class-today” experience so that they would be more inclined to talk with their parents about the study and obtain the necessary permission to participate.

What impact did Miles have on your study and research?
Prof. Wilbourn: Before Miles’ visit, we had received only four out of 23 returned forms in a particular fourth-grade classroom. The day after Miles’ visit, this class returned 15 additional consent forms! We went from four to 19 out of 23 returned forms in one day! This is unheard of in school-based research studies. Talk about the Plumlee Effect!

How did Miles spend his time with the Southwest Elementary?
Prof. Wilbourn: Miles interacted with the students over pizza and popsicles during one trip, and read storybooks with excitement and enthusiasm during another. For the kindergarten rooms, we traced Miles’ shoe and made copies so the little ones could “step into his shoes” and measure the difference. He also sought out interactions with individual students; he e-mailed with one fourth-grader about his summer league, and he had private conversations about the importance of hard work on and off the court with particular students.

For example: Miles took the time to speak with three fourth graders (who were not part of the rooms we visited) that we were told loved basketball, but didn’t want to do their schoolwork. We pulled them out of their class and Miles talked with them for about five minutes. He had a way of speaking to them with kindness and understanding that never came across as lecturing. He talked to them about how sometimes even he has to remember that working hard in school is the reason why he gets to play basketball at a school like Duke. I was so impressed with how patient, kind, and encouraging Miles was with the children.

How did the teachers react to Miles’ visits to the school?
Prof. Wilbourn: One of the teachers conveyed to me privately that following Miles’ visit was the most participation and excitement that she had ever experienced with her students. I n addition, this teacher informed me that she was able to use Miles’ visit and the chance of having another day with him as an incentive for students to improve their attendance, complete their homework assignments, and appropriately adjust their behaviors. During a later visit in the same class, Miles was asked if things came easily to him. He responded quickly that he had to work hard at everything, providing a positive example for the elementary students.

How did Miles’ participation impact his study of psychology?
Prof. Wilbourn: Miles, a Psychology major with a concentration in Development Psychology, went above and beyond simply recruiting students to participate in the study. He participated in an adult version of this study in order to better understand the tasks that the kids would be completing. On our most recent trip, he took on a greater leadership role by emphasizing the importance of the study to the students while helping to develop innovative and exciting recruitment strategies. Throughout all of this, he developed an appreciation for school-based research and just how challenging, yet rewarding psychological research can be.

QUOTE BOARD

Man, I’ll never forget the day I met Miles Plumlee!”
Darrius, Southwest Elementary fourth-grade student

“While I had anticipated the effect that Miles’ visit would have on the children, what I had not anticipated was the effect that the children would have on Miles. Throughout this experience, Miles has come to understand that while the children admired him for his accomplishments, they adored him for just being him.”
Professor Wilbourn

“Miles came to Southwest last year, all 6’10” of him, probably aware of the possibility that his attendance would be widely recognized and that he would of course draw attention. Very soon into his initial visit, however, his demeanor and posture changed, his shoulders settled down, and he genuinely allowed himself to enjoy the opportunity to spend time with our students. He engaged them and even pulled aside some of the older students to speak on a more personal level. In returning to Southwest as often as he did, he allowed our students to see him for so much more than this icon for which he is commonly recognized… I want you to know that when they see Miles, whether in person, in pictures or on television, their faces and their body language express that they see their friend.”
Southwest Elementary School Principal Ari Cohen, in a letter sent to Coach K