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Degree: Political Science ’26
Project Teams:
- University-Assisted Community Schools (2025-2026)
- Building Stronger Communities: The Evolution of Funding in North Carolina Public Education (Data+, summer 2025)
- Strengthening Partnerships Between Durham Schools and Local Universities (2023-2024)
Angelie Quimbo draws on her interest in American politics and personal experience in public schools to bring meaningful insight to her Bass Connections research on university-assisted community schools. She values the collaborative, seminar-style environment where undergraduate, graduate and faculty voices unite to support every child’s success.
Angelie recently shared her Bass Connections experience with Kelly Harrison (Senior Academic Program Coordinator, Bass Connections). The interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
What are your academic interests and how do they connect to your Bass Connections team?
I study political science with a concentration in American politics and pre-law. My Bass Connections team explores the intersection of education and policy. I grew up in Nashville public schools, so I experienced many of the issues we're studying, which makes it meaningful to now study these topics critically at Duke.
I'm applying to Master of Public Policy programs as I enjoy learning and research. My experience with Bass Connections and Data+ working with the North Carolina Public School Forum showed me the direct impact of research. I want to pursue more research opportunities before potentially attending law school.
Can you describe the work of your Bass Connections team?
Our Bass Connections team focuses on strengthening community partnerships between university-assisted community schools and their communities. Community schools are public schools that serve as community hubs, bringing together families, students and stakeholders to ensure students get necessary resources. University-assisted community schools have university partners that provide services or funding.
A community school follows a strategy rather than a rigid model. Each uses asset-based needs assessments to determine what students, families and communities need. They typically have family resource centers providing food, clothing, counseling services and after-school programs. Community schools have a coordinator and follow four pillars: integrated student support, expanded learning opportunities, active family and community engagement and collaborative leadership. They recognize that students face issues outside school that affect learning and aim to address these without adding burdens.
During my work with Data+ this summer, our team examined states similar to North Carolina to understand their community school policies. We chose states with public school frameworks like North Carolina’s. We're particularly interested in states with state and local funding for community schools, as North Carolina relies heavily on federal funding that is currently being cut. We want to understand alternative funding sources and how to engage state and local policymakers.
During fall break, members of our Bass Connections team visited community schools in New Mexico, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida, the states that we studied over the summer for Data+. They learned from community coordinators about how these schools progressed since becoming community schools. We emphasize that "if you see one community school, you see one community school" - each has a unique model based on community needs, which is why we're visiting various sites.
How does your team engage in collaboration and teamwork?
Our team emphasizes different voices and perspectives in a welcoming environment where everyone feels comfortable speaking up and asking questions. It's seminar-style learning, with subgroups for specific research areas. Our team leads are experts who’ve been doing this work for seven years, but they actively seek student input and make us feel heard.
Our team leaders model discussion approaches. While we all have our own opinions and biases, we share the belief that education is above politics - we focus on ensuring all children have resources to succeed. Being at a university puts us in a strong position to have these discussions and focus on community needs rather than self-interest.
We also benefit from working with passionate individuals across different levels. We have graduate students with teaching backgrounds and team leads with public school teaching experience.
What I appreciate most is that my views are never dismissed because I’m younger - everyone's input is valued equally. We often discuss how our personal experiences relate to the topics, bringing diverse perspectives.
What challenges has your team faced?
With community schools, it's difficult to consider all data points since each school is unique, and it can be hard to generalize. There's a lot of data to analyze, and we can't easily identify patterns from one school to another. The political climate and its effect on funding as well as teacher retention issues also present challenges, requiring us to constantly adjust.
What impact has this experience had on your future plans?
This summer I really connected with my passion for community schools and public education. I'm now considering a career in educational policy and looking at job opportunities and graduate programs in that field.
Working with the North Carolina Public School Forum, a nonpartisan organization that seeks to improve public schools throughout the state, opened my eyes to possibilities I hadn't considered. Seeing the impact when children feel supported at school is meaningful, especially given my background in developmental psychology.
It has also been quite meaningful to work with the Durham Public Schools community. We enter spaces knowing we aren't the experts, that's why we do site visits and have conversations with community school coordinators. We build relationships while being considerate and putting aside our self-interests to meet schools where they are.
What advice would you give to students who are interested in Bass Connections?
I’d suggest students interested in Bass Connections think deeply about the research topics and consider whether you're truly passionate about it. Bass Connections is unique because it combines engagement with others and meaningful research. If you're not passionate about the topic, you might be better off taking a lecture course. The collaboration and relationship aspects with team members and leads are what make it special, so enthusiasm and investment in the research topic is crucial.
October 2025