By EllaPlank

The new Ambassador Program, previously known as the Recruitment Team, will provide future Marian girls an idea of how students at Marian feel a sense of home while being at school. In the past, students had to answer a few simple questions in order to host a visitor at Marian. Now there is a professional program that Marian girls need to be accepted into to host V.I.C.s (Very Important Crusaders), previously known as shadows. Mrs. Sallie Peters, Vice President of Enrollment Management, explained that “the idea of being accepted into this program is for ambassadors to feel empowered and give our visitors a better experience at Marian.” 

Peters has a vision of having a high level of individualism in the program. This will help V.I.C.s to have an ambassador that has similar interests and areas of involvement as them. As a result, the V.I.C. will have a better idea of what life is like at Marian. 

Along with the Ambassador Program comes many different individual components within it. It contains the core team, the social media team, grade school visit team, and the grade school summer camp counselor team. 

The core team specifically, compared to Class Officers, Student Board, and Campus Ministry’s FIAT core team, contains girls that know how to live out the Marian core values and embody the spirit of Marian. Core team members are excited to have the chance to show V.I.C.s all that Marian has to offer and help Peters lead all 231 student ambassadors in the program. Sophomore core team member Aubrey Thompson says, “I am excited to be able to help build up the future of Marian.” Along with that, they will help plan events for future Marian girls with Peters. 

The social media team is made up of a group of girls who will provide an insight into what a day in the life at Marian is like. These girls will demonstrate a student perspective on social media to prospective families and girls who are interested in attending Marian.

Lastly, the grade school summer camp counselor team will run the camps, unlike previous years when staff members ran them. This will give the participants in the camp an idea of what Marian has to offer. It will also provide ambassadors with an insight into what it takes to teach and lead a class.

However, the most important part of the new Ambassador Program is hosting V.I.C.s. Peters wants “V.I.C.s to think that they can’t imagine going anywhere other than Marian because it feels like home” after they attend a visit. This idea of hers will become a reality because of the commited ambassadors. 

Peters said she hopes all ambassadors know that “the impression they give to the V.I.C.s can make or break their high school decision.” She wants the elected ambassadors to be proud of our amazing school community, ultimately pulling middle schoolers closer to Marian. 

With the new ambassador program comes a few new changes so the committee can be the best it can be. Sixth graders that would like to visit Marian cannot visit until the second semester. This will allow more seventh and eighth graders to visit because they have to make a decision regarding high school sooner. There will also be limited exceptions for someone not in the ambassador program to host a V.I.C. One of these exceptions would be if a sibling wants to host their little sister. Other exceptions must be approved by Peters. 

The Ambassador Program will help give visitors at Marian the best experience possible. Guests at Marian will now receive a better impression of Marian as a whole because of the dedicated and determined ambassadors.