After selecting the members of our Spring 2024 cohort of Student Ambassadors in March, we all immediately got to work. We made some changes to the program this time around based on lessons learned from our inaugural cohort of Student Ambassadors. Our primary goal with this program is to understand the unique experiences and challenges of students in Western North Carolina and specifically in the Land of Sky region (Buncombe, Henderson, Madison, and Transylvania counties). To elicit the information we sought, we decided on four main components to the students’ participation:
- Their Personal Voices
- The Voices of Their Peers
- Creativity via Video Content
- Meet with Our P20 Council Members
Their Personal Voices
For this first required component, we asked students to answer a series of questions about their experiences, influences, and perceptions pertaining to their education. A few of questions were:
- What have been your experiences and challenges as a western NC student?
- What has influenced your career interests?
- What would you tell your younger self about how to better prepare for the journey of being a young adult?
The Voices of Their Peers
The second required component tasked each Student Ambassador with interviewing five of their peers in-person to obtain additional perspectives, life experiences, and perceptions regarding career options, postsecondary options, and community resources. Students were asked to get curious about others their age, and to ask, listen, and learn. We provided a list of interview questions and asked them to select at least three for each interview. The responses were submitted in written form and could include voice recordings and/or videos as well. A few of the questions students could choose from included:
- How have you been informed about the types of jobs that will be available to you based on your highest level of education? (Please provide 2 specific reasons for your answer)
- What’s your level of confidence with navigating the application and or/registration process for the universities in this region? (Please provide 2 specific reasons for your answer)
- What information do you have about the resources available in your community that can help you pay for school/training? (Please provide 2 specific reasons for your answer)
Creativity via Video Content
With the third required component, we hoped our Student Ambassadors would have a bit of fun! We asked them to think about what they learned from the first two Q&A components and incorporate those ideas into social media videos that would portray the full spectrum of experiences they had collected about the lives of students in WNC. We allowed them to be creative, informative, introspective, or entertaining. Our aim was to help them articulate the student perspective using a medium their generation thrives on. Each Student Ambassador produced 3 videos that were 15-45 seconds long. We provided links to example videos and also provided additional questions for inspiration, such as:
- What are you the most scared of moving forward in your educational career?
- How did the pandemic affect you as a student, positive and negatively?
- Do you feel prepared for the next chapter in your life? Why or why not?
Meet with Our P20 Council Members
The fourth and final component was optional. Student Ambassaors were invited to attend the May 10, 2024, P20 Council Meeting as guests. Because many schools were still in session at that time, many students were unable to attend. We asked those who did attend to introduce themselves and to share something they learned about themselves and their peers through their work as Student Ambassadors. We were so grateful to those who attended and shared their experiences, perspectives, and ideas!
It has been such a privilege and a pleasure to get to know our Student Ambassadors in this cohort! We have been so impressed with their insight, their maturity, and their advocacy skills. These Students as Stakeholders are vital to the success of our work to improve educational attainment in the Land of Sky region. Their voices are central to all that we do, and we appreciate their thoughtful and thorough responses. Stay tuned over the next several months as we share more of these student perspectives on our region’s educational landscape.
