INTERN
BKUN Internship
We extend our warm congratulations and welcome to BK Sister Devindree (South Africa) as the first Prakashmani scholar and BKUN intern for 2012.
Please read the official Press Release and also Sister Devindree’s essay on the “Qualities of Spiritual Leadership: The Life and Style of Leadership as Demonstrated by Dadi Prakashmani”. The announcement is also being on Prakashmani Day (August 25) in Mount Abu Rajasthan, Dadi’s home for most of her life, as well as through the internal communication networks of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University.
HISTORY
In 2010, a small group of Brahma Kumaris NGO representatives to the United Nations decided to establish a scholarship as a way to commemorate the life of, and continue the legacy of, world visionary Dadi Prakashmani (1922-2007). The scholarship was created to support an Intern to come to United Nations headquarters in New York and work with the Brahma Kumaris at the United Nations. The scholarship is privately funded, and the benefactors have requested anonymity.
This scholarship is currently an internal scholarship, advertised to the student body of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. Our first intern has been selected, and we will be announcing the winner on this site on August 25 2011, Prakashmani Day.
SCHOLARSHIP PROCESS
We received and responded to more than 300 requests for applications, and received more than 150 applications in return. These applications were then distributed among a committee of ten, representing diversity in genders and continents. Each committee member (there were seven) reviewed approximately 30 applications, and chose their top five, according to the criteria that was included in the application form. The committee members then gathered together in Peace Village to discuss our top applicants and to – finally – come up with our first BKUN Intern. We gradually refined the applicant pool, from 25 to 12 eventually working our way down to the Final Four. This was not an easy process, as there were many strong applicants. However, we had agreed to choose by consensus. In other words, the entire committee had to agree on the Final Four. It was all the more difficult as, after reading through the applications, we we felt a personal connection with each one, from their essay, personal statement and also their references.
APPLICATIONS
When we are ready for our next BKUN intern, we will once again promote the Prakashmani Scholarship through internal networks and also this website. At this stage, the Prakashmani Scholarship is only available to students of the Brahma Kumaris.
OUR INTERN: 2012
Sister Devindree Pillay (34) from South Africa. You are invited to our event, “The Hope and Promise of Leadership” sponsored by the Prakashmani Scholarship and led by our Intern, in honor of Nelson Mandela Day.
