HILLSBOROUGH: Former resident makes White House Fellowship short list

By Eileen Oldfield, Staff Writer
   For years, Shawn Golhar watched friends and colleagues apply for positions as White House Fellows.
    “It’s something I’ve always been interested in doing,” Mr. Golhar, who currently lives in California, said. “I’ve always been interested in the interaction between the private and public sector.”
   This year, Mr. Golhar’s interviewing for one of the year-long fellowships, after being selected as a regional finalist for the program.
   ”It seems like an invaluable opportunity during an historic administration,” he said. “Obviously, I was really excited. I’ve wanted to do this for about 10 years. I always thought, I’m not old enough.”
   Mr. Golhar learned about making the regional finalist list in an email he received several weeks ago, he said. The 1997 Hillsborough High School graduate — who received his undergraduate degree from Rutgers University in 2001, and a master’s from Harvard University in 2005 — always thought he was too young to apply for the fellowship posts.
   In addition to his work as a vice president in public finance with Barclays’ Capital, Mr. Golhar is chairman for the Institute for Domestic and International Affairs, a New Jersey-based non-profit providing Model United Nations and Model Congress programs for high school students.
   He also serves on the board of Global Partnerships in Activism and Cross-Cultural Trainings International, Inc., an organization he co-founded that offering hands-on leadership training.
   White House Fellow applicants complete an online application, and provide three to five recommendation letters for the positions. According to the White House Fellows Web site, around 1,000 people will apply for between 11 and 19 positions —approximately 100 of the applicants are selected as regional finalists.
   ”From your own point-of-view, you have to answer 12 questions, and five essays,” Mr. Golhar said. “It’s quite a process to go through in terms of putting your experience on paper.”
   Regional finalists participate in a day-long interview in April with distinguished citizens from their region, to determine national finalists for the fellowships, the Web site read. The national finalists undergo two days of interviews during June with members of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships, with the people selected for the fellowships interviewing for positions in July. The terms as fellows begin in September.
   ”They just want to see how you react, how you answer regular questions, as well as policy questions,” Mr. Golhar said about his upcoming interview. “Everything, from what I hear, is open game.”