Recognizing Rockefeller Student Program Assistant: Roshni Dugar '20

Roshni Dugar ’20, a Government major from Los Angeles, California, had been familiar with the Rockefeller Center since her freshman year when she started to attend some of the Center’s public programming. While exploring a job fair during the fall, she recalls stopping by the Rockefeller Center’s booth set-up and meeting Elizabeth Celtrick, the Center’s Senior Assistant Director. Elizabeth told her about the Management and Leadership Development Program (MLDP), one of Rocky's cornerstone programs and a requirement for all students employed by the Center to take. Although the program had already begun for the fall term, Elizabeth suggested Roshni sit-in on the following week’s session.

Roshni instantly fell in love with the program and was amazed by the ease in which the Rocky staff made her feel comfortable. “It was great to see how dedicated and excited the staff were about the program.”

“For the first session, I noticed that the people around me were really motivated. Everyone wanted to be a better leader and a better person," says Roshni. In particular, the Week 6 Session on Building Relationships, facilitated by Kate Hilton ’99 stood out to her. Roshni says that most of her interactions with professors were one-sided before this session, as she was intimidated by their positions of authority. But after practicing Hilton’s model for one-on-one conversations with her MLDP peers, Roshni noticed a marked difference.

“It [the session] was really good on teaching us how to be productive in conversation — a conversation that’s not forced, and one that provides each participant an incentive to be engaged.”

Because of this experience, Roshni’s relationships with professors are much stronger, which has proven to be rewarding. For instance, Roshni attributes the progress she’s made on her current research project with a Government professor to the Week 6 session. As such, Roshni completed MLDP that fall “with Excellence.”

After the program’s close, Robin Frye, a Program Officer with the Rockefeller Center and responsible for MLDP, asked Roshni to work as a student assistant for the winter term, an offer which Roshni gladly accepted. In this new role, she continued to bring the same level of enthusiasm and commitment she had as a participant.

Robin describes Roshni as having a genuine helpful spirit and as extremely reliable. "She found small ways to improve efficiency in the program and made things easier for the student staff team," says Robin. "They started to look to her as a team leader. Her passion for the program and leadership shined through with all her interactions with the participants."

Roshni recommends MLDP to all of her friends, describing it as “the perfect way to combine curriculum with real-world application — skills you don’t get in a classroom environment.”

-Written by Tyler Malbreaux '20, Rockefeller Center Student Program Assistant for the Management and Leadership Development Program