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In this series, the Rockefeller Center features our Student Program Assistants, student staff who contribute significantly to the success of the Center’s events, programs, and activities.
Most of the Student Assistants at the Rockefeller Center are assigned to work on specific programs, but some students assist with day-to-day operations and unique projects. Lily Morrison ’16, for example, lends her efforts on special projects, whether that may entail creating a presentation, coordinating a seminar, or researching for a potential speaker.
Majoring in geography modified with film studies and minoring in French, Lily became involved with the Rockefeller Center after taking a few public policy classes. She was first assigned to assist Sadhana Hall, the Deputy Director of the Center, with the Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI). During the summer of 2014, Rocky helped to host 25 young leaders from 19 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa. Lily’s particular interest in international development made her skills compatible for the role.
"I learned about where each of the YALI fellows were from and how they were trying to improve their countries. I had studied many of these issues in my classes, so it was very relevant to my own interests," Lily says.
During the course of 6 weeks, Lily helped to coordinate the weekly YALI seminars at Rocky. She assisted with organizing speakers from around the country, particularly leaders in business, to give talks at the seminars. She also prepared the syllabi and documents for the YALI fellows and helped to run the interactive activities during the seminars.
"It was really interesting to see the fellows’ perspectives because a lot of them hadn’t even been to the US before," says Lily. "I found that we all had shared values even though we were different ages and came from different places."
After YALI, she has continued to work as a Special Projects Assistant for Sadhana, which has included composing oral presentations for public policy classes.
"Lily is hardworking, dependable, and does great work. She is professional and so cheerful," Sadhana says.
Rocky has clearly benefited from Lily’s efforts, but Lily also believes that she has benefited from Rocky as well. She says, "I learned a lot of things that seemed kind of basic at first, but the more that I dove into it, these things were actually more complicated. Working for Rocky has ultimately improved my speaking skills and has given me so many opportunities to improve professionally."
-Written by Courtney Wong '15, Rockefeller Center Student Program Assistant