Hello, everyone! My name is James McQuillan, and I am from Gulfport, Mississippi. During my time in the Duke Gap Year Program, I will serve as the Southern Region Vice President for DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America), an organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.
I will be traveling across the entire Southern Region of the United States, including, but not limited to, Florida, Arkansas, Virginia, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and so many more, to work with every chartered association within the Southern Region of DECA. I plan to learn about all the behind-the-scenes information on how a huge nonprofit like DECA operates!
While that will run throughout the entire year, I will also be traveling with 7 Brew, a drive-thru coffee chain, to be a part of Kindness Crew. For anyone who doesn’t know, Kindness Crew is a group of employees who travel all over to new stand openings and help with projects like Caffeine for a Cause, Community Hours, etc.
In the future, I plan to work in a position that focuses heavily on corporate social responsibility, and I hope this traveling will give me a glimpse of what that feels like, both emotionally and physically. Above all else, I’m super excited to experience new pathways that I can bring back to Duke and share with my Class of 2031!
