Recognizing Rockefeller Center Student Program Assistant: Niki Bakhru '17

Niki Bakhru ’17 started working for the Rockefeller Center during her sophomore summer as a student program assistant for communications and student outreach. Her first set of responsibilities primarily focused on writing student profiles for the Center’s website, but over the terms she has taken on many additional writing assignments.   

Last summer, Niki piloted a series of interviews with participants from the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, or YALI. Each summer Dartmouth hosts twenty-five or so of these young promising leaders from Sub Saharan Africa. The Rockefeller Center covers the leadership component of the program’s curriculum, and Niki was able to interview several of them about what this experience meant to them.

“Niki’s a natural when it comes to interviewing people and capturing the essence of their story and how it pertains to the Rockefeller Center’s mission,” says Elizabeth Celtrick, assistant director at the Center and Niki’s supervisor. “She writes beautifully and has been a tremendous asset in helping Rocky tell our story.”

Other projects Niki has taken on are interviews with faculty members who have received research grant funding from the Center, as well as interviewing multiple visiting scholars that Rocky invites to campus each term. She has enjoyed the increased responsibilities afforded her during her time at Rocky.

“Elizabeth is really good about giving me the freedom to write about anything that I like,” Niki says. She has spent most of her time this past term focusing on seniors and is responsible for another first at Rocky, which is capturing these Senior Reflections in short audio clips.

Working for Rocky was Niki’s first experience interacting with the Center, but it led her to other opportunities within Rocky. “Just writing about other people’s experiences with Rocky led me to become more involved. For example, I participated in the Management and Leadership Development Program,” Niki says.

Outside of Rocky, Niki is co-captain of Raaz, a South Asian fusion dance team, and a consultant for the Dartmouth Consulting Group. A government major and English minor, Niki plans to be a consultant after graduation. She worked in consulting during her off term this past winter, and will work at a healthcare consulting firm this coming summer. 

Submitted by Doug Phipps ’17, Student Program Assistant for Communications and Student Outreach