Recognizing Rockefeller Center Student Program Assistant: Niamé Daffé ’18

Niamé Daffé ’18 began working for the Rockefeller Center her freshman year during winter interim. The Center is quite a busy place during breaks and often hires several students to assist with various projects that get sidelined during the terms.

Originally, Niamé had only planned to work for the Center during break. “After seeing what great work Niamé is capable of performing, along with her fantastic work ethic and wonderful attitude she brings to work each and every day,” says Elizabeth Celtrick, Assistant Director of Co-Curricular Programs, “I really encouraged her to stay on and continue being part of our team. Lucky for us, she did!”

When asked what she likes best about working at the Center, she says it is the work environment at the Center. “Everyone is so kind and welcoming,” says Niamé. She has also participated in two of the Center’s programs, Dartmouth Leadership Attitudes and Behaviors (D-LAB) and the self-paced, on-line program, Create Your Path. Speaking in particular about Create Your Path, Niamé thinks the program, which is designed to help students align their goals and interests, is a great resource. “I would recommend this program to every student,” she says. “It really helped me learn a lot about myself.”

Niamé now works for the Center as the Student Program Assistant for Database Management, under the supervision of Lynn Spencer, the Center’s Finance Manager. She primarily works with Batchbook, a software that manages the data of student program participation at Rocky.  She appreciates the breadth of different experiences that Rocky has given her, as she finds database management rewarding, but in a different way than her special projects work.  She says that working with the software was “a little hard to adjust to, but I got used to it.”  Both jobs have offered her very different, but effective, professional learning experiences. 

Elsewhere on campus, Niamé is a member of the Dartmouth African Students Association, Soyeya Dance Troupe, and one of the student facilitators for D-LAB.  She is planning on majoring in biology and sociology and hopes to attend graduate school after Dartmouth, but she doesn’t yet know what she wants to study.  “I’m still figuring it all out,” Niamé says. 

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