Morgan Duffy ’13

You’ve probably seen her YouTube vid, seen her signs littered around campus or gotten a billion e-mails from her about Dance Marathon: Morgan Duffy ‘13 is Stanford’s newest junior class president BAMF. Morgan, one of the members of Leland Stanford Juniors, is excited to bring her own flair to THIR-TEEN’s (we see you, Dean Julie) junior year. An active member of her high school’s student government, running for junior class president (along with Shilpa Apte, Alex Walker, Christine Kim, Beckie Yanovsky and Joel Aguero) was always in the cards.

“I was President of the Honor Society at my high school and I’ve done student government since middle school”, Morgan said. “I was approached by the slate that I ran with and I really like the people. I thought they had a lot of great ideas. None of us were involved in Stanford’s student government at the time, and I thought it was really important to give a different spin.”
Stanford’s 2011 junior class can expect a lot of great things to come from this energetic slate. Morgan, an active skier, is bent on bringing some athleticism to THIR-TEEN.

 “We are in the process of planning more sporting events geared to bring juniors out for all different types of sports”, Morgan said. “Also, we’re doing SPOT trips next year, pending permits and training. We’re really excited about it.”

Besides working hard to plan an amazing junior year, over the past two years, Morgan has transformed into a kind of Stanford Renaissance woman. Listing her résumé of extracurriculars, it was hard to imagine her finding time to sleep: Dance Marathon, Business Outreach Team, Freshman Dorm leader, Research Assistant and an ASB participant. Morgan enjoys keeping herself busy, and is still on the lookout for more to add to her schedule.

“I’m really into Broadway musicals,” Morgan gushed. “Whenever I go home, my mom and I go to New York City to see different shows. I did theatre in high school and I’m interested in getting more involved in theatre at Stanford after being in [the cast of] ‘Vagina Monologues.’ I was the Angry Vagina.”

Being interested in acting isn’t too much of a surprise — her hometown, Scranton, Pennsylvania, is the setting for the beloved sitcom “The Office.” Although Morgan says the sitcom was set in Scranton due to its lackluster reputation, her small-town roots are the reason why Stanford snagged this amazing leader.

“I went to the Muscular Dystrophy Association Summer Camp, right outside of Philadelphia, for nine years”, Morgan said. “I applied to Stanford because one of my friends from camp went here and she really loved it. When I visited, I fell in love with [Stanford] too. I didn’t think I would get in, but I applied anyway — and once I got in, my mind was set.”

From summer camp to Stanford, Morgan’s path to greatness has only just begun. Morgan understands just how important it is to be an active community member.  As someone with a disability, Morgan’s made it one of her priorities to help disabled children reach their greatest potential, just as she has.
“This summer, I’ll be traveling to Indonesia to research the social development of children with disabilities in Central Java”, Morgan said. “I’m really interested in working in underserved communities with disabled children in order to improve their social skills and abilities to communicate with their peers.”

Junior class president, actress, philanthropist and all-around superstar — Morgan Duffy is doing it all. But don’t think the fame and fortune has gotten to her. Morgan remains one of the most down-to-earth girls on The Farm’s achiever-infested campus.

“On the side, I go home whenever I can”, Morgan said. “I’m really close to my family and friends.”

Be proud if you’re considered one.