Rockefeller Leadership Fellow: Julia Mariano ’17

This series introduces the 2016-2017 Rockefeller Leadership Fellows. Each fellow reflects on why he or she wanted to be a part of the program and what aspects of leadership most interests them.

As a Rockefeller Leadership Fellow, I am learning and practicing the skills needed to insure that the co-curricular and residential program that I initiated – the Thought Project – becomes a permanent fixture on the Dartmouth campus. Through RLF, I will also learn important lessons that I can apply to my future career in academia and higher education administration.

The Thought Project Living Learning Community is a program that I have successfully spearheaded this past year. We have hosted 16 student-faculty dinners with high attendance and a variety of other academic and social events. In this position, I have come to realize the importance of relationships and developing a network of advisors as I regularly meet and connect with administrators and faculty members who provide me with the assistance, inspiration, and feedback necessary to move my project forward.

Through the Thought Project, I now recognize the importance of communication skills and a shared sense of purpose among the team of students. Building an organization requires collective thinking and a wide variety of perspectives. I would like to model the future Thought Project program off of the Rockefeller Center approach to co-curricular programs, particularly with setting aside time for reflection and defining learning objectives. RLF is helping me learn more about how to develop meaningful learning opportunities for students outside the classroom and gain the leadership skills necessary to tackle the pressing problems that face American higher education.

Julia Marino '17 grew up in New York City and graduated from Convent of the SacredHeart where she was awarded the Head of School Award. At Dartmouth, Julia is a History major and a Stamps Leadership Scholar. Since sophomore year, Julia has been working on writing a biography of Dartmouth alum Basil O'Connor, FDR's law partner who spearheaded the crusade against polio in America. With funding from Stamps, Julia has traveled to four different archives so far, and she plans to travel to eight others to uncover O'Connor's personal and professional history. On campus, Julia works as an RWIT tutor, and she is the student coordinator of the Thought Project, a Living Learning Community in Wheeler Hall. Each week, the Thought Project hosts a student-faculty Food for Thought dinner and a variety of social events.

Edited by Rachel Favors '18, Rockefeller Center Student Program Assistant for Communications