[Student Essay] Student Ambassadors: Contributions to Our Community
Haeun Kim (Grade 11), Branksome Hall Asia
Yoonseo Choi (Grade 9), Branksome Hall Asia
Haeun Kim (Grade 11), Yoonseo Choi (Grade 9), Branksome Hall Asia
“Welcome to Branksome Hall Asia!”. This is the sentence we start with, standing in front of the prospective families as student ambassadors. This is also the sentence that best explains who we are because yes, we are there to welcome and provide a better insight into our school.
The Student Ambassador Program has continued to make accomplishments in contributing to the Branksome community ever since the program was initiated in 2016. With our aim to communicate the vision and mission of Branksome Hall Asia to people outside our community, we are presented at the Admissions events—Information Sessions, Open House, School Tours—as representatives of the student body. Student Ambassadors are also responsible for more than giving good impressions of Branksome Hall Asia. We diligently put our effort to create Branksome Hall Asia into a better community that is only possible with devotion and dedication to the work.
The Student Ambassador Program provided us with endless opportunities to become independent young leaders. Today, we identify areas of improvement that we are able to create potential solutions for, through discussions with students and faculty. For instance, we initiated a large project last year called the ‘Ambassador V-log’, which simply started from a discussion with one of the student ambassadors who joined our community in 2021. Despite her high aspirations as a student ambassador, she had limited activities due to the pandemic that broke out. We sat down and brainstormed the ways we could connect with people online but in a way that would show what it is like to be a student in Branksome Hall Asia. With social platforms developed and easily accessible by people disregarding nationality, age, and gender, we decided to film 3-minute-long V-logs about different aspects of student life. This idea was developed throughout 2021 by the Student Ambassadors and had the very first V-log introduced on the school social media in 2022 about the Branksome Winter Concert.
Being a Student Ambassador not only improved our problem solving, collaboration, and communication skills but also strengthened our abilities as young independent leaders. We learned this as we initiated our own projects, met with people from different departments, propelled projects, and worked as one group. Especially in recent years, this program also taught us how to adapt to changes and not be discouraged but rather stand up and overcome.
Every year as we expanded the number of activities with multiple projects, it fascinated us with how we could develop a whole new system on our own and the changes that it brought. This led to the establishment of the Student Ambassador Training Program, where we searched for students who would join us in becoming young leaders.
From our experiences as Student Ambassadors, we came to notice the necessity of our mindsets, especially those we selected as the most important features. They are:
1. Honest. Providing the most accurate and truthful information
2. Perceptive. Showing insightful observations of the different aspects of school.
3. Caring. Creating the most welcoming environment for the families
As the Head and Deputy Student Ambassadors of 2021-2022, we center our focus on these features in our Student Ambassador Training Program, as well as emphasizing the genuine passion of students to become an ambassador. During interviews, we frequently ask, "How would you contribute to our community?". This question elicits a wide range of replies where we look forward to seeing students who would be truly committed to making Branksome Hall Asia a welcoming community for prospective students and families. Through the Student Ambassador Training Program, we search for students to work with us and bring their positive energies to the Branksome community as Student Ambassadors.
Six years ago, the Student Ambassador Program started with only six Branksome Hall Asia students wanting to share about the Branksome Hall Asia community. Now, we have a large organization with unique projects and activities that are not limited to any kind, reaching outside the Jeju Island. Just as we have been doing for the past years, it is our aspiration that we continue preserving the initial vision and mission, taking further steps in reaching out to the world to share our experiences in Branksome.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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