Monica Balakrishnan, ACE in South Africa 2024 participant and member of the Duke Fencing Team, joined The True Blue Podcast, a student-led podcast that shares the stories of Duke student-athletes. In this episode, Monica joined host, Shelby Bumgarner, to share about her passion for fencing, academics, and community service, including her ACE in South Africa experience.
Before becoming a Blue Devil, Monica worked with several non-profits in her hometown of Houston, such as Teens for Vaccine and Limitless Minds. In summer 2024, Monica was selected to be one of twelve Duke student-athletes, who participated in the 2024 ACE in South Africa Program. During the three weeks in Cape Town, South Africa, the student-athletes supported two local organizations, VUSA Academy and Ladles of Love. At VUSA, the student-athletes supported their education programs by teaching English to young children in Early Childhood Development Centers (ECDs) through songs, games, and stories. They also assisted with VUSA’s after-school sports camps where they coached soccer, rugby, field hockey, and more. With Ladles of Love, the team contributed to local food distribution initiatives, including one day where they made and packaged over 1,400 sandwiches.
In this episode of The True Blue Podcast, Monica and Shelby discuss Monica’s upbringing, passion for fencing and service, and her ACE experience and further community service in Houston and Durham.
You can read the full article and listen to the episode here.