When Revere Graduate Naureen Huda returned to Ohio for winter break, she got more than a bit of cold weather and snow. Once at home, Huda found an email telling her she had won the Samuel DuBois Cook Award, and she jumped up to tell her family about the surprise recognition for her volunteer work around Duke University’s campus.

This year, as Huda prepares to graduate from Duke University and move on to medical school, she learned that she won the Samuel DuBois Cook Award for her volunteering with The Girls’ Club since her early freshman days.

Laurel Matthes, Assistant to the Vice President for Institutional Equity, described the Samuel DuBois Cook Award. She stated that Huda was selected by the 24 members of the Samuel DuBois Cook Society Steering Committee.

“[Award criteria include] service in the ‘beloved community,’ in which Dr. Cook and his friend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. believed strongly.,” Matthes said.

Matthes also said that Huda was this year’s sole undergraduate winner of the award.

Sam Miglarese, Director of Community Engagement for the Office of Durham and Regional Affairs, and who nominated Huda for the award, first became acquainted with her during her freshman year. He strongly appreciated her contribution to the community.

“I have known Naureen since her first days at Duke when she signed up to serve as a volunteer mentor with The Girls’ Club, a student group and afterschool program I advise and of which Naureen is now president . . . . Over the past four years, I have seen Naureen connect with more than fifty Durham Middle School girls, teaching them the importance of education, self-respect and making healthy lifestyle choices,” Miglarese said.

Huda also participated in several other community outreach activities and serves on the executive board of the Duke Partnership for Service, which plans the annual Global Health Week and organizes events to commemorate the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Huda has volunteered at Duke University Hospital for two years and tutored Spanish speakers in English through a student organization.

As Huda enters medical school, she brings with her a history of compassionate service, as well as recognition of her devotion to the community thanks to the Cook Award.