Raised in North Carolina Anonymous

I feel that I have had many advantages as a result of being raised in North Carolina. The weather is moderate, there are beautiful coastal areas, but most importantly, being in North Carolina means being close to Duke. As a born and bred North Carolinian, conversations about rivalry did not center around United States and North Korea. Instead, I was raised to understand that when Duke played UNC in basketball, it was a serious business.

The first time I ever visited the Duke campus was when I was ten years old. One of my father's business contractors gave my family tickets for a home basketball game in the Cameron Indoor Stadium. The seats were not great, but I barely noticed. I was enamored with the surreal feeling that I got when I arrived at the campus. I felt like I was in a place that was brimming with excitement, and passion, and liveliness, about sports but also about science, literature, and the arts. The student body did not seem to be content with polite complacency, but rather, I could see that the Duke community embraced enthusiasm and eagerness. I certainly enjoyed the experience, and it stuck in my mind for years later. The next time I was on the Duke campus was for a much different purpose. In February of my...