Max Freudenheim (Psychology ’27)

Degree: Psychology ’27

Project Teams: 

• Enhancing Diversity in STEM Careers Through Mentored Training (2025-2026)
• Enhancing Diversity in STEM Careers Through Mentored Training (2024-2025)

For the past two years, Max Freudenheim has been nurturing a passion for mentorship and educational equity through his Bass Connections team, which introduces health and environmental topics to Durham Public School high school students through hands-on learning. 

Max recently shared his Bass Connections experience with Kelly Harrison (Senior Academic Program Coordinator, Bass Connections). The interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

How did you first get involved in your Bass Connections project?

I'm a psychology major, and I want to work with kids in some capacity, possibly by pursuing an occupational therapy doctorate or going into teaching. Educational equity is an issue I’m passionate about, so I attended the Bass Connections fair looking for interdisciplinary research opportunities that might further those interests and goals. 

I learned about the Enhancing Diversity in STEM Careers Through Mentored Training team through my friend Lizzy Glazer. I've always been passionate about mentoring, and this program allowed me to develop an experiential education curriculum and mentor high school students in partnership with faculty and students from different backgrounds.

Image

How does interdisciplinarity shape your team and its approach?

Our team includes faculty from different disciplines, Meagan Dunphy-Daly from marine science, Jason Somarelli from medicine and Emma Schmaltz with experiential education. This allows us to integrate health and environmental topics together rather than keeping them separate. For example, when discussing water quality, we address how this can impact the environment and health. This interdisciplinary approach benefits both team members and the high school students we mentor.

In our program, the fall semester focuses on college and career readiness with 2.5-hour Wednesday evening sessions. My teammates and I take the high schoolers on college tours, conduct undergrad panels, and work on resume building, networking and college application guidance. Spring has 6-hour Saturday sessions focused on environmental and health topics. We take field trips to places like farmers’ markets, renewable energy facilities, and labs, and conduct debates and do hands-on activities. The spring culminates in a hackathon where students develop solutions to environmental problems and present them to Duke faculty acting as judges.

How does your team collect feedback and work on improving the program experience for high schoolers?

After every session with students, they complete a feedback form. This helps us improve future sessions. We also conduct pre-program and post-program surveys to measure our impact on the students. There are various ways we measure success, such as seeing increased interest in health and environmental careers or college readiness from participants.

Sessions that involve outdoor activities, like exploring Duke Forest or collecting water samples at the Eno River, tend to work well. Jason's “Lab Olympics” where students raced to complete pipetting tasks was also popular. Generally, active, hands-on learning engages students best, especially after lunch when energy tends to dip.

Image

What challenges have you faced as a team and how did you address them?

The biggest challenge is student retention. Initially, each team member mentors about five high school students. Some mentors end up with 4-5 students consistently attending, while others (like me) ended up with only 1-2 regular attendees. When this happens, we often join with other mentor groups for activities. 

We’ve also tried incentive systems like giving students “stars” for attendance that increase their chances of winning prizes. This year we’re considering more immediate incentives rather than end-of-program rewards. Personally, I focused my energy on the students who did show up consistently and joined other mentor groups to help more students when needed. 

What is the most rewarding aspect of your Bass Connections experience?

I have really enjoyed connecting with high school students and feeling like I’m making an impact as their mentor. I’ve also gained a lot out of working with the team and growing in confidence to express my opinions and take on more responsibility. I’ve developed leadership skills and curriculum-building experience that helped me when I later taught a house course at Duke.

I’d encourage students thinking about this experience to be open and curious. Bass Connections offers specialized experiences that aren’t obvious like traditional courses in a major. Through projects like mine, you can gain specific skills like mentorship, curriculum development, communication and field trip planning. Teamwork is essential – “teamwork makes the dream work” with Bass Connections. You’ll grow personally and in how you work as part of a team.

Image