Ambassador to recruiter

Some changes coming to an RSO

The Student Ambassadors, an RSO on campus dedicated to introducing Ferris to high school students, will have a new name next year along with a few changes.

The program will no longer be named “Student Ambassadors;” it will be renamed “Student Recruiting Associates”.

“The heart and soul of the program will stay the same,” Nick Campau, coordinator of student life, said. “There are a handful of noticeable changes coming up. The first has been to eliminate the overnight visit program. This program, when compared to other admission events, was extremely small and consumed a large portion of our resources.”

Campau said that by eliminating the overnight visit program, they were also able to eliminate the residency requirement of the Student Recruiting Associates (SRAs), allowing them to recruit a more diverse pool of students to represent the university.

“As we moved forward, we discovered that our students were working less in an ambassador role and more in recruiter role, and we have named the program Student Recruiting Associate to reflect our changes,” Campau said.

Aminna McGee, president of Student Ambassadors, said the organization currently has 22 members and is split into full and part-time members. The full-time members participated in the overnight visits, which will no longer exist in the 2012-13 academic year.

“We are entirely responsible for the tours on campus,” McGee said. She also said they do tours for all ages, including fourth grade students, middle school students and high school juniors and seniors.

“We also do travel trips to places like Detroit and Grand Rapids to inform prospective students and their family members in those areas about Ferris and what we have to offer,” McGee said.

Student Recruiting Associates will work directly with prospective students and their family while leading and supporting different admission programs throughout the academic year. Many of the programs include leading the walking tour for visitors, working Dawg Day events and other enrollment services.

“The Student Recruiting Associate program’s ultimate goal is to increase the enrollment at Ferris State University by providing prospective students with a positive experience through designated programs,” Campau said.

Earlier in the year, the members of the current Student Ambassadors group put together a dunk tank fundraiser for the Big Rapids Red Cross Chapter.

“We raised over $200 that afternoon,” McGee said. “The current Student Ambassador members thought it would be fantastic to donate $200 to the Big Rapids Red Cross chapter to kick off the transition.

McGee said the application process for the 2012-13 process has ended, but interested individuals should keep their eyes open for the 2013-14 applications next spring.