Media Category: Student-Athlete Ambassadors

Jala Wright is currently a senior on the Duke softball team. She is originally from Charlotte, North Carolina and participated in the ACE Costa Rica in 2023. She had an impactful experience working with Duke student-athletes and Stanford student-athletes to help grow the town of Gandoca, Costa Rica through environmental and conservation work. Jala will always cherish the memories of spending time with the locals, releasing baby sea turtles, and tasting so many delicious fruit juices!

Seamus Harding is a senior on the Men's Duke Swimming and Diving Team. He is studying Psychology, receiving a Bachelor of Science, and minoring in Music. Once he graduates from Duke, Seamus is hoping to work at a marketing firm in New York City or in San Francisco. He also would love to go into the music industry, and create music of his own someday. Seamus participated in the ACEinPlace Vietnam 2022 and the ACE in Vietnam 2023 programs, and loved every second of it. Having done an online program and an in person program, he fell in love with learning the Vietnamese culture, and teaching the Vietnamese students English, Life Skills, and Dancing.

2023-2024 Ambassador Team

Abby Geiser is a junior on the Duke Women's Track and Field Team. She is majoring in psychology and is passionate about connecting with others and understanding the brain and behaviors. This past summer in 2023 she participated in the ACE in South Africa program which allowed her to meet many fantastic people and participate in service work that was truly live changing.

Christina Ferrari is a senior co-captain of the Women's Fencing team at Duke. She is majoring in Linguistics and minoring in French and Journalism. ACE in Colorado in 2022 gave her the chance to explore her passion in environmental conservation and connect with an awesome group of athletes. She's looking forward to getting other student-athletes stoked about sustainability and all of the ACE programs!

Chelsea Proutt is a sophomore on the Duke Rowing team from Sydney, Australia. She participated in ACE in Vietnam 2023, where she taught life skills, Biology lessons and soccer to foster a love for learning and promote secondary education. She is grateful for the opportunity to meet and work with other students from Duke, Stanford and universities across Vietnam to create an impactful and meaningful summer program for all involved.

Conor Bohrer is a junior on the Duke Men's Cross Country and Track and Field teams majoring in neuroscience with minors in chemistry and religion. As a member of the ACE-in-Place Thailand 2023 team, he was able to explore, develop, and share his passion for environmental conservation by spearheading a social media initiative for shark and marine conservation. His international experience with conservation has inspired him to apply a global lens to his professional interests in medicine. Conor joined a Bass Connections program that seeks to understand and improve neurosurgical systems in Africa--alongside neurosurgeons from Duke, Uganda, and Nigeria--and hopes to draw on his ACE experiences during his research.

Chloe Beittel is a senior on the Duke Fencing team. She is majoring in Marine Science and Conservation with minors in Policy Journalism and Media Studies and Biology. Her ACE in Costa Rica experience in 2023 built on her classroom knowledge of the environment through the relationships she developed with Gandoca residents who experience direct impacts from climate change. She is currently researching the breathing events of short-finned pilot whales. She hopes to use environmental storytelling to create positive change for the planet and the people on it.

Kelsey Zampa is currently a junior on the Duke Softball team from Hartland, Michigan and participated in the ACE in Costa Rica program in 2023. Kelsey is passionate about community. Her ACE experience provided her with valuable service experience in these areas of interest, and she hopes to share her experience with other Duke student-athletes to encourage greater participation!