For many college students, the first person they remember meeting on campus is their student ambassador. The student ambassadors provide a point of contact, a friendly face, and a person with whom to share concerns and ask questions.
With 63 current student ambassadors, consisting of nine sophomores, 25 juniors, and 29 seniors, the admissions department is in the process of hiring more than 30 students to become the new face of the college to prospective students.
Senior Assistant Director of Admissions Andrea Clark said admissions conducted an audit of the ambassador program in November and released those who could not commit to the minimum number of hours required.
Clark said hiring for the spring semester is the first round for new ambassadors.
“We will be able to hire about 25 new ambassadors for this spring semester, which will help us handle the influx of visitors in March and April, our heavy months, without creating a shortage of hours,” Clark said. “Then, in the fall, we will need to hire another batch of ambassadors to bring the program up to full strength when the seniors have left us.”
After going through applications, junior Luke Bessmer, student director of the student ambassador program, said they’re very pleased with the turnout.
“We had three times the number of applications that we needed,” Bessmer said. “All the applications were very good, and the applicants are pretty well-qualified. Sometimes they just need a little more time on campus.”
Admissions has already interviewed applicants and chosen most of the ambassadors for the spring semester. Training for new ambassadors consists of a four-hour session and shadowing experienced ambassadors.
“This is an unusually large group of seniors for the program,” Clark said. “Many times students will retire from the ambassador program during or before their senior year. We are very lucky that such a large group of seasoned hosts has chosen to remain with the program. They understand the college so well, and visiting students are really able to benefit from that. I will be sad to see them go.”
However, Bessmer said the process of training and preparing the new ambassadors won’t be a problem.
“It’s kind of like shadowing a doctor,” Bessmer said. “They’ll just follow them around, and sometimes the ambassadors will throw in a few helpful hints like, ‘This is why we should tell them this.’ It’s really a well-oiled machine.”
Clark said the program operates best with 70 to 80 student ambassadors.
While admissions had to release those who can’t commit to the minimum number of hours, they’re still willing to work with students’ schedules.
“We check in with student ambassadors from semester to semester,” Admissions Counselor Zack Miller said. “We really want to be able to work with them. We understand that they have a busy schedule.”