Kelli Carter ~ Staff Writer
The University Ambassadors, otherwise known as the UA’s, are a group of students who are behind the scenes helping to recruit new Hornets.
The UA’s work closely with the office of admissions. They provide a student’s perspective of what campus is like and allows a prospective student to feel comfortable.
They are responsible for giving tours, running open houses, making 45 phone calls a week to prospective students, and writing 15 personalized notecards. They try their hardest to make everyone who comes on a tour feel welcomed and even want to become a student at the University of Lynchburg.
Sam Vogel, a UA captain,said, “Being a captain of the UA’s is a really good opportunity to share my story [as] to why I came to Lynchburg and share my passion for the school.”
At the beginning of every school year, UA’s move onto campus early to go through training and checks in all the students. This year, there were 16 new UA’s, so training was a good time for everyone to get to know each other and understand that this is not just a job, but a family.
Carlie Vaughan, a new member of the ambassador staff, said, “I am super excited about this job. I applied because I think it is a good opportunity on campus and you get to meet prospective students.”
During training, old and new UA’s learned about the new general education requirements for the first years. Called the Dell +, UA’s got to talk with the new Dean of Students, Dr. Aaron Smith, and go over what the Student Development and the Office of Equity and Inclusion are. They also got to talk to Michial Neal from Dining Services to see what this year holds for the cafeteria.
On top of getting a lot of new members, the UA’s also got a new event coordinator, Nicole Marburger, a U of L alum of the class of 2014 and 2018 . Marburger said, “I am very excited about this position just because it is nice to engage with the current students rather than just interacting with them in the recruitment process. It is nice to actually see you guys go through each stage of your life in college.”
She then went on and said, “I am excited to bring in new ambassadors and still have the old ones. You guys are a huge key part in what the program is and a stable part of the recruitment process.”
With the start of the new school year, the ambassadors are already kicking off recruitment for the next class.
