Canadian chosen for competitive NYC-based fellowship

Michali Sturm

A Toronto student was one of 15 people recognized for their involvement in student life with a fellowship at Yeshiva University (YU) this year.

Michali Sturm, who studied marketing at the YU’s Sy Syms School of Business, graduated this past spring. Although she was planning to move back to Toronto after graduation, she decided to stay in New York City once she was offered the fellowship position.

She is one of two non-Americans chosen for the fellowship this year – the other, Marganit Rauch, is from London, England.

Now in its 10th year, the program gives graduates the opportunity to work for YU while developing leadership skills and connections through working on projects to improve campus life.

It was created in 2004 to keep some of the school’s best students involved in campus life, as well as giving them the opportunity to begin their careers with involvement in Jewish organizational work, said university president Richard Joel.

“It’s a group of passionate, very unique individuals who all have very different experiences at YU, but have a similar underlying goal to enhance and give back as much as they can to the institution,” Sturm said.

Some of the activities include skill-development workshops, leadership-training seminars, and meetings with various professors. The participants also get the opportunity to learn from people such as philanthropists Michael Steinhardt and Ronald Stanton, author A.J. Jacobs and human rights activist Brooke Goldstein.

Sturm said the fellowship is helping her move toward her goal of working in market research. She said the fact that the fellowship is so people-oriented – she’s working in YU’s Office of Student Life – makes it similar to working in marketing.

“In market research, you work with the consumer mind to come up with a better product,” she said, adding that she’s doing exactly that in her fellowship – working with the student body to find ways to improve the school.

She described her experience at the school as very positive. Not only was she able to learn in small classrooms, getting to know the professors, but she also became very involved in several campus groups, including the marketing club, fashion club and a number of business clubs.

“The more I became involved in the school throughout my time there, the more I benefited from it,” she said.

That’s why she decided to accept the fellowship. “I wanted to do it from a different perspective, and have the opportunity to give back.”