Someone once said to me, ‘If you leave university with just your degree, you’ve wasted your time’. I am totally in agreement.
So, you know those really cool kids you see around your uni/at university open days, usually sporting extremely brightly coloured t-shirts and being enthusiastic about EVERYTHING? Yeah, I do that. And I love it.
Starting at a new institute and studying different things in a new environment can be extremely daunting, especially when you also have the job of making new friends, supporting yourself financially….it can get a bit much. One of the easiest and most wonderful ways I’ve met lots of people (and earned some cash at the same time) is by working as both a Student Ambassador and as a Widening Participation Ambassador for City.
Here’s a little run-down of what each of these roles involves.
As a Student Ambassador, you:
- Give campus tours to prospective undergraduate and post-graduate students on open days/evenings.
- Wave foam fingers and direct people to the University from nearby transport links (N.B. This is not all the time, the foam fingers only come out on very special occasions)
- Assist during selection days for undergraduate health courses and on offer-holder open days. This is where those who have received both conditional and unconditional offers get to come and see what studying at City might be like.
- Have the opportunity to talk at open days about your own student experience.
- Help register new students during September Welcome Week
- Pose for photos for the prospectuses and website…. (Yes, I did this).
As a Widening Participation Ambassador, you:
- Give campus tours to school- age young people. We work with mainly secondary age, but we also have primary groups coming to the University.
- Assist with activities during subject-specific taster days and weeks, where sixth-formers have the opportunity to participate in activities around a subject taught at City
- Have the opportunity to tutor young people in local schools in specific subjects, or help coach them through decisions around applying for higher education.
- Opt to deliver student workshops about your course, and have practice in planning and facilitating interactive sessions for young people.
- Visit schools to talk about studying and working in a particular field.
As I write these lists, I realise that there are so many other things to mention that the job description simply doesn’t cover. The moment when a year 6 student tells you, ‘I want to come to City and do what you’re doing’, or when the 15 year-old who had never considered applying to university says, ‘This (the campus tour) was much better than I thought it was going to be. Maybe I do want to do this…’. Or when the new undergraduate student says, ‘Thank you….I definitely feel better about starting all this new stuff’.
Getting actively involved in these roles at City has meant I’ve met so many people, had my confidence boosted and been pushed to try things that I wouldn’t have otherwise. These soft-skills- being able to engage a group, being able to answer people’s questions patiently and empathetically, being able to juggle lots of commitments at once- these are things that do not only develop through studying and gaining a degree (which, of course, is also important), but through working and saying yes to opportunities that would not otherwise come up so readily. Also, you get to build fun stuff….like bridges out of spaghetti and straws….(Ok, fine, the bridges were built by year 9s. I was no help whatsoever. Apparently engineering is not my forte. I provided moral support instead…). Did I mention you also get to wear colourful t-shirts?
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