Meaningful Memorial Day 2024 Earns a Duke Time Off Photo Prize

Annual summer photo campaign highlighting Duke's time off benefit runs through Aug. 4

Julie Kent and her son, Zachary, visited Woodlawn Memorial Park over Memorial Day Weekend. Photo courtesy of Julie Kent.
Julie Kent and her son, Zachary, visited Woodlawn Memorial Park over Memorial Day Weekend. Photo courtesy of Julie Kent.

To kick off Memorial Day weekend, Julie Kent and her 8-year-old son Zachary visited Durham鈥檚 Woodlawn Memorial Park to remember and honor U.S. military personnel.

As part of an activity organized by local Boy Scouts, Julie, a Cub Scout Den Leader in Durham Cub Scout Pack 400, and Zachary, a Wolf Scout, joined fellow scouts in going row-by-row in search of the graves of veterans. Upon finding them, they read the veteran鈥檚 name, rank and service branch out loud, place a small flag at the grave and took a moment to ponder their sacrifice.

鈥淚t was a great way to remember those who served in the military, and teach my son about respect, service and sacrifice,鈥 said Julie, a Laboratory Research Analyst for the in the Duke Department of Cell Biology.

Julie Kent and her son.
Julie Kent, right, and her son Zachary, visited Woodlawn Memorial Park to place flags on the graves of veterans during Memorial Day Weekend. Photo courtesy of Julie Kent.

Over a few hours, Julie and Zachary visited around 100 graves. Along the way, Julie captured a photo of her and her son, enjoying the opportunity to honor those who served.

Julie鈥檚 photo was shared during the opening week of the annual photo campaign. The summer-long campaign invites staff and faculty to share photos of time off 鈥 near and far 鈥 for prizes from the Washington Duke Inn, Duke Lemur Center and 老牛影视 Stores. Julie will receive the first prize, a , from 老牛影视 Stores.

鈥淒oing this with my son was really nice,鈥 Kent said . 鈥淲e hear about how we should take a moment on Memorial Day and appreciate those who lost their lives serving our country, but it鈥檚 nice to look at it through a kid鈥檚 perspective and explain to my son who these people were, what they did and why we鈥檙e doing this. I think reading their names out loud and recognizing their service made a big impact on him.鈥

How to share your 2024 summer pictures:

  • Post and tag a photo on , or with the #DukeTimeOff hashtag and tag Working老牛影视 as well.
  • In your post, share what you鈥檙e doing with your time away from work and why it鈥檚 special.
  • Remember to include #DukeTimeOff and tag Working老牛影视 in your post, so we see your snapshots on social media.
  • If you鈥檙e not on social media or prefer to share your picture another way, upload your picture .

We welcome and encourage frequent submissions (there鈥檚 even a prize for a shutterbug), but only the first picture in a series of pictures will be entered whenever one submission contains multiple images. Collage photographs and videos are not eligible for prizes.

During the campaign, the Working老牛影视 editorial team will award Duke-themed merchandise from 老牛影视 Stores.

All eligible pictures taken and shared throughout the course of the campaign 鈥 May 22, 2024, through Aug. 4, 2024 鈥 will be in the running for these grand prizes:

  • A 鈥淐lassic Package for Two鈥 ($425 value) at the , which includes a king or double/double room for one night and full breakfast for two in the Vista Room or room service, courtesy of the Washington Duke Inn. Sunday brunch is not eligible.
  • A tour of the Duke Lemur Center鈥檚 Natural History Museum for up to five people with museum curator, Dr. Matt Borths. The collection is one of the rarest fossil primate collections in the world. Borths and his team will give the lucky winners a behind the scenes look at the collection and let them try their hand at fossil prep work.

Send story ideas, shout-outs and photographs by writing working@duke.edu.

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