Andrew Leon Hanna is the guy working hard behind the scenes, surfacing once a week in the inbox of the Duke sophomore class. Despite studying at UNC this semester as part of The Robertson Scholars Program, he certainly doesn’t let geography interfere with his important roles as President of the Class of 2014, co-founder of IGNITE, and the newly-elected President of dPS. I was somewhat amazed that I was even able to steal an hour of his time, amidst his busy schedule, to find out more about what he has been up to.
Upon meeting with any student who will be featured in this column, I always begin by asking about their high school experience. Every Duke student has a story to tell. Andrew proved to be no exception. Born to Egyptian parents in Jacksonville, Florida, he completed the International Baccalaureate at Stanton College Prep, with a graduating class of 311 students. Noticing that I was slightly taken aback by this very exact number, Andrew smiled, explaining that he served as President of his high school class for four consecutive years; naturally he had become very well acquainted with his “socio-economically diverse” student body. It was, in fact, because his classmates were from such varying cultures and backgrounds, that Andrew felt spurred to run for presidency each year: “I wanted to ensure the class stayed unified – it felt very natural for me.”
When asked the burning question – “Why Duke?” – Andrew joked that his high school mascot was also the Blue Devil, so he really had no choice in the matter. It was destiny. In actuality, Andrew initially thought he would attend University of Florida, until he heard about the unique opportunity to be a Robertson Scholar. Although he missed the formal information session, the excited chatter that filled the corridors of his high school afterwards certainly intrigued him. Andrew shared, “I found it a weird concept that you could attend two schools at the same time.” It couldn’t have been that strange, for he soon found himself advancing rapidly in the competitive selection process. Accepted to the program at both Duke and UNC (!), Andrew firmly stated that he “didn’t want to take prestige into account” when making his final decision. Rather, it was Duke’s “diverse student body” (UNC, in contrast, is 83% North Carolinians by law) and “focus on global and civic engagement” that sealed the deal. As it transpired, a different Andrew Hanna, with a similar social security number and birthdate, already attends UNC. Not one to be unoriginal, our own Andrew Hanna is sure that he made the right decision in choosing Duke.
Second Semester Andrew has already had a widespread impact on the Duke community. A DSG Senator his freshman year, he soon gravitated towards Class Council, which he viewed as “much more action-orientated.” A natural born leader, he decided to once again run for class President in order to help unify the sophomores as they underwent the transition from East to West (A Whole New World, if you will). Clearly an issue that is important to Andrew, he shared, “The sophomore slump is no joke. There are new pressures of disunity and I wanted to bring people back together by bridging the gap.” This is exactly what he has done. Class Council has been completely revamped, with particular focus now placed on “community building and better communication” in order to help sophomores make important decisions regarding major selection and study abroad. With 10 people on the Executive Committee, and a further 25 students on the general team, there has been considerably “more man power and perspectives” this year (it’s a shame that the same cannot be said about our Men’s Basketball Team). With exciting events now happening, such as the first annual Sophomore Commencement, Dorm Reunions and Nasher Night, Andrew, quite rightly, couldn’t hide his smile as he revealed that the Class of 2014 recently polled having a 25% greater “sense of belonging,” than the Class of 2013 did last year. In other words, the 2014 kids will refuse to graduate.
When not busy boosting the morale of his peers, Andrew is working hard to establish IGNITE at Hillside High School, along with two fellow sophomores, Nikki Whang and Lauren Gonzales. This is a program run by 8-10 Duke students, who train the high school seniors to successfully mentor the incoming freshmen. Reflecting on this program, Andrew shared: “The best things that I have been blessed with are the ability to communicate with different types of people, and a desire to impact people positively.” However, while others may also share this “strong desire to help people out, they aren’t always clearly presented with opportunities to do so.” IGNITE, therefore, is helping to rectify this problem, one Hillside High School senior at a time. As Andrew pointed out, “even having a senior say Hi to you as a freshman in the corridor goes a long way.” Tying this in with Duke life, he spoke highly of the size of our own student body: “You know enough people to see familiar faces on the way to class, but you are also constantly meeting new and cool people.” (The greatest reward of writing this column, in fact, is having the excuse to meet a handful of these awesome students, who I would may not otherwise encounter #creep?).
Remembering that Andrew is based at UNC at present, I was intrigued to find out how life on the other side of town, in “Chapel Thrill”, has been treating him. A True Dukie, Andrew let out a gimmicky heavy sigh, exclaiming, “man… pretty strange”. I laughed when the first thing he mentioned was the “very noticeable” increased girl-guy ratio (No complaints then really?) On a more serious note, due to his ongoing commitments at Duke, Andrew is constantly travelling between the two campuses: “It’s hard to fully immerse myself entirely over there.” Nevertheless, now over halfway done with his brief stint as a faux Tar Heel, he appreciates how “life is much more relaxed at UNC where people don’t stress as much.” Expanding further on this, Andrew shared: “I wouldn’t trade Duke’s striving for success for anything but I am enjoying the balance, and learning to keep things in perspective; there is more to life than just academics.” Speaking of life outside the classroom, Andrew happened to email me a brief update post-interview. In the two days that had passed, he was elected President of dPS (Duke Partnership for Service), which is the umbrella governance organization for all 60 + service organizations offered at Duke. All in a day’s work, eh?
A Public Policy major, with minors in Arabic and PPE, Law School is potentially on the cards for this young man once he graduates in 2014. Considering his advanced leadership skills, I was hardly surprised when Andrew shared his hopes for the future: “I want to eventually run for public office one day.” All I say is watch out, Barack! When I dug deeper to discover something about this Campus Celebrity that I couldn’t otherwise find on his resume, Andrew was quick to highlight how important his faith is, in all aspects of his life. “I take my faith very seriously,” he began, “There is a huge focus on success at Duke and it can lead to a selfish lifestyle. My faith helps keep my priorities straight.”
Without doubt, there is certainly a cheeky and fun-loving side to Andrew. When my phone rang on the table in front of us, he quickly reached out for it, joking, “I’ll take it.” Then, near to the end of the interview, he called over to a guy walking past, who I could only have imagined to be a friend of his, exclaiming “your shoes are awesome!” They engaged in easy conversation for a few minutes as I finished writing up my notes.
Turns out I was wrong. He didn’t know him.
That’s Duke for you.