First Tee – Metropolitan New York alumna and 2022 First Tee Scholar, Srishti Dhurandhar, has been involved with First Tee for more than 10 years. She made the most out of her experience by completing the First Tee Leadership Series, attending Leadership Summit and going on to work at her local PGA TOUR Superstore.
During her junior year of high school, Srishti completed five Leadership Series sessions, where she learned about personal values, leadership skills and exploring career fields. “The series planted little seeds of these ideas and then Montana really grew those ideas,” she said.
Following the Series, she was accepted to Leadership Summit in partnership with PGA TOUR Superstore in Montana. Participants at the annual event are encouraged to try new things like horseback riding and whitewater rafting. They learn about their own strengths and weaknesses, how to work as part of a team and how to build authentic relationships.
“Summit was a life changing week for me. I came back feeling like a whole new person,” she said. Srishti spent the week reflecting on and learning about herself.
The week allowed her to get comfortable being uncomfortable, with Srishti saying that she did things that she would normally never do thanks to the event’s focus on positive risk taking,. “The environment was so safe and supportive that I felt comfortable enough to do that,” she said.
Session 1 of the 2024 Leadership Summit will be from August 5 – 9 and session 2 will be from August 12 – 16 at West Creek Ranch in Montana.
Leadership Summit provided Srishti with the opportunity to talk to PGA TOUR Superstore executives and eventually go on to work as a club fitter at the store in East Hanover, New Jersey. There she learned a lot about customer service, clubs, shafts and how to use statistics to get people the clubs that fit them best.
Now as an alumna, Srishti jumped at the chance to go back to Montana as a chaperone.
“It was a full circle moment for me, standing in the same place that those participants were in and feeling the same emotions that they were going through,” she said. “Now becoming a mentor to those participants was emotional for me also.”
Not only did chaperoning provide Srishti with a valuable experience as a mentor but it opened doors for networking opportunities that made her aware of the First Tee headquarters internship that she is completing now.
“Working here has shown me how it starts at the root. You can tell that people are here because they want to be here, and they want to help the participants,” she said.
Both the Leadership Series and Leadership Summit culminate with final presentations in which Srishti talked about her desire to work in the golf industry and combine her passion of technology and data with her passion for sports.
“Going from the speeches I gave at the end of Series and Summit, to now living out those aspirations in this internship has been so rewarding and I absolutely love what I am doing,” she said.
Srishti will complete her internship in August and begin her junior year at New York University, majoring in business and technology management and member of the collegiate golf team.