Listen to this story as a podcast. In a way, they are the faces of Warnell. They are the first people you meet when you come for a tour. They might check you in at a Warnell event. Often, they are the first ones to arrive and the last ones to leave. They are our student ambassadors. It’s a lot of work. Being a student ambassador means taking time out of your evenings and weekends to serve at events, attend meetings, or give tours to potential students. Ambassadors get academic credit for their work, but students don’t sign up to be an ambassador for a grade—they do it for the love of Warnell, and the desire to share their experiences. “When I was walking around Warnell, especially the first few years, I saw all these people in their red polos and they always looked like they were having a great time,” said Madison Christol, a senior parks, recreation and tourism management major. “And, I was so excited to be in Warnell, it was like, ‘Oh, I want to tell people about this, I want people to be able to come here and do things like this.’ It’s so awesome.” Carol Catoe is Warnell’s student recruitment and outreach coordinator, and she oversees the student ambassador program. She sees the opportunity as a form of leadership development. Students must apply to be an ambassador, and the ones who are chosen understand the commitment that’s involved. But in return for their time and talents, students gain access to alumni, networking opportunities, public speaking and other skills that are useful in the workplace. “I think that students are realizing that networking is important—being ready to not only be prepared academically for when they graduate college, but also to be professionally prepared when they graduate,” said Catoe. “And that’s what the ambassador program does for them—it helps them connect the dots. They are able to interact with individuals who can provide them with some great opportunities down the road. Also, it gives them an opportunity to build their resume and a lot of opportunities that would not be there for them otherwise.” But here’s the kicker to being an ambassador: It’s a chance for students to give prospective Warnell students insights into what life is like there. Leading tours is a big part of being an ambassador, and it’s a chance for ambassadors to add their own personal insights and stories. It makes for a completely different experience from a tour led by a staff member. Fourth-year wildlife sciences student Marci Marciales says she’s looking forward to giving some in-person tours this year, as the school moves to more in-person tours as the pandemic eases. “It’s Warnell’s way of having a student perspective, being able to tell other students or parents about Warnell without it being an administrator or a guidance counselor telling you how great UGA is—you can actually hear it form a student,” said Marciales. “And from student to student, you know what they would like to hear, and you know what parents are looking to hear at tours as well. They might want to hear about financial aid or scholarship opportunities, while a student might like to hear that we have a cool dungeon in the basement where you can write with dry-erase marker on the wall.” But before the tours can begin and the event tabling starts, there’s orientation. Recently, all the student ambassadors spent a weekend to bond and learn about their new jobs. They started out with a Friday night of pizza and instructions on how to table an event and give a tour. Then, they spent the day out at Warnell’s Flinchum’s Phoenix event space for some team-building exercises and leadership development training. Senior wildlife sciences student Delaney Caslow, who is a leader on the ambassadors’ executive committee, helped organize the weekend of events. “For this weekend, we’re doing a lot of team building. On Friday night we went through our syllabus and some of the expectations. Today we’re doing some team-building exercises and professional development, and a lot of bonding and getting to know each other,” said Caslow. “Tomorrow we’re doing our community service. We are going to Whit Davis, an elementary school in the Athens area, and help a teacher there—who is actually a Warnell ambassador alumna from the first year the program started—with the school garden and clearing some trails—whatever she needs help with.” On Saturday, the students learned about their superpowers, caught up on some dance moves, and had ample opportunities to grow their confidence in their new roles. The next day, they put on their work clothes and met up at Whit Davis Elementary School for the community service project. "This morning we have been preparing a trail for Whit Davis Elementary School. We’ve been putting mulch down on the trail and cutting briars and weeds and vines,” said Morgan Lyons, a third-year wildlife sciences student. She and the other students were assisting Leslie Johnson, a kindergarten teacher at Whit Davis. Johnson is also a Warnell graduate and was among the first class of ambassadors at the school. “I was a Warnell ambassador the inaugural year it was at the school,” she said. “I’ve had volunteer crews out here before and I’ve had UGA groups show up in flip-flops and some really cute clothes, and I was like, I want to get the Warnell folks.” Johnson has been a teacher for 19 years. She recalls her time as an ambassador as a chance to learn some leadership skills. She also benefitted from giving tours. “I definitely don’t remember doing any service projects, but I remember when we had potential sophomores who were looking at doing Warnell for a professional school and wanted to come learn, we would take them on tours and talk to them,” said Johnson. “So I think, as a young adult, developing those communication skills—those are the things I remember.” Today, the students have a few jobs. In addition to clearing a nature trail that will be used by the school’s media specialist for story times, they are also cleaning out some garden beds in preparation for fall plantings and doing some weed control in other beds. And, moving a huge pile of mulch. Travan Martin, a fourth-year parks, recreation, and tourism management major, is one of the few students with tour experience. He was able to bridge last year’s student ambassador experience with this one by working at Warnell during the summer and meeting visitors. Over the last few months, he’s had the opportunity to customize his tours. If you end up in one of Martin’s tours, he says, he will customize the script to reflect your interests. But for now, he’s just happy to be outside, giving back to the community. “So, here we took out a bunch of weeds and small woody plants, a little bit of poison ivy—just cleaning up the area,” he said. “And over there, I cleaned out that garden bed. And to my surprise, there were some potatoes in there. There were like five or six of them. They seemed pretty good.” By early afternoon, the students were tired but feeling satisfied. They could see the work that they had done, but also feel it. The entire weekend was meant to be a bonding experience—something last year’s class didn’t get because of COVID restrictions. The students made the most of it. “I enjoy community service—it’s nice to do stuff to help people, especially after last year and not getting to do a lot of stuff with COVID,” added Martin. “It’s nice to actually do something.” Caslow agreed. “It’s just nice to set a theme for the rest of the semester and the rest of the year,” she said. “And, it’s really cool that we get to help out somebody out who used to be in Warnell, and a school around here because then they can hear about Warnell and can maybe grow up knowing about Warnell and the things that we do—and maybe end up going to Warnell. Or at least knowing more about the environment and forestry and natural resources.”
