Last month, 2010 Camper Shefali Jain was named as a 2019 Schwarzman Scholar. This Scholarship covers the cost of graduate study and living accommodation for a one-year master’s program. Shefali will study how business can use technology to combat poverty in emerging economies at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.
Shefali wrote in her personal statement for the award: “Solving social problems that defy conventional solutions really excites me. My professional interests lie in developing social entrepreneurship ventures that combine technological innovation with business to combat poverty in emerging economies. I believe that business enterprises can succeed in enacting systemic change in a way traditional government aid programs and charitable donations cannot.”
Shefali told us that her experiences at CRS has pursued her to seek out similar experiences. While at university, she stepped into various leadership roles to serve her community and shared her passions with others. In the spring of 2015, she lead a Breakout Trip to Vermont to study the differences between urban and rural poverty and in fall 2016, she was a trip coordinator, where she coordinated a group to the Boundary Waters in Minnesota “to explore tensions between labor and environmentalists.” Additionally, she was president of Princeton’s Naacho South Asian Dance Company. She choreographed and performed dances, such as Bollywood fusion, for campus and community events.
“The summer of 2010 gave me my first taste of what it was like to be immersed in a passionate, supportive, and service-oriented community and I’ve been seeking experiences like Camp ever since (though I’ll always be a camper for life!).”
She is currently a recipient of the Princeton in Asia fellowship, where she is working as an analyst at Mongolia International Capital Corporation (MICC) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The PiA’s mission is “to promote goodwill and understanding and to facilitate in every way the free interchange of the best ideals in the civilizations of both East and West.” Shefali explains “MICC is one of the longest-running investment banks in Mongolia. Our primary function is helping Mongolian companies get financing from international development banks by helping them prepare pitches, financial statements, and business plans.”
As demonstrated by Shefali's past experience, her time at Camp Rising Sun has inspired her to seek out new, global, and community service-oriented opportunities.
“[Even]though it has been nearly 8 years since I slept in a tent for 8 weeks, it has been amazing sharing CRS with my family and friends over the years. My little sister was a camper in 2015 and after seeing the enormous impact CRS had on us, my mom became a Board Member of LAJF. As a Schwarzman Scholar, I'm looking forward to being a member of a welcoming, challenging, and eye-opening program, much like I was at CRS seven years ago.”
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