Athens Community Career Academy Workforce Development Coordinator Halo Smart points to her Ambassador Application Review document in Room 37 at ACCA on Aug. 21. Smart oversees the ACCA Student Ambassador Program and found it an important way to advocate for the ACCA. “(The ACCA) really (has) to explain ourselves, whereas Clarke Central (High School) never has to explain what they are,” Smart said. “Part of our (Ambassador) Program is explaining ourselves to students in the community. Why should you come here for part of your day? What is it that’s going to happen here?” Photo by Emlyn McKinney
The Athens Community Career Academy Student Ambassador Program gives students opportunities to build leadership skills by being a student representative and determining how the program functions.
A tour group of wide-eyed eighth-grade students walks through the halls of the Athens Community Career Academy, visiting pathway teachers and observing classroom activities. They’re led by a student only a few years their senior: a member of the ACCA Student Ambassador Program.
Students who attend morning classes at the ACCA and are in good academic standing could apply to the Student Ambassador Program through a Google Form, which closed on Aug. 29. The form asked students to provide three teacher references, evaluate themselves based on ACCA’s values and explain their interest in the program.
An infographic displays the application and appointment process of the Athens Community Career Academy Student Ambassador Program. The program’s recruitment team has looked for applicants’ commitment to the ambassadors’ responsibilities and values. “(Being a student ambassador is) a great thing to put on a resume, but if you’re not passionate about it, if you don’t care, if it’s just something that you feel obligated to, I wouldn’t (apply),” ACCA Student Ambassador Mariah Carson, a Clarke Central High School senior, said. “Make sure you care about it, because if you (don’t), it’ll show in your interview.” Graphic by Emlyn McKinney
“I take (the applicants) and block out all the names because we know that (returning student ambassadors) often want to recruit their friends,” ACCA Workforce Development Coordinator and Ambassador Program Coach Halo Smart said. “We score the applicants in a Google Form, interview each candidate and have a discussion at the end of the day.”
Along with upholding responsibilities that include planning events, touring students and being student representatives, ambassadors whose positions have carried over also gain valuable workforce skills by being a part of the applicant evaluation process and helping Smart organize the program.
“I wanted to mirror the idea of a flat culture, which is (where every student ambassador is) cross-trained, so that anybody can walk into a role and figure out how to do it,” Smart said. “The whole (ambassador) team runs the program, and I rotate facilitating the meetings, creating the agenda and getting the word out about events among the team.”
For ACCA Student Ambassador Mariah Carson, a Clarke Central High School senior who first joined the program in her sophomore year, being an ambassador has allowed her to advocate for fellow students and the ACCA itself.
“The importance to me for promoting the (ACCA) is that all options and opportunities are known. When a lot of kids come into high school, they don’t know what the Career Academy is and what it has to offer,” Carson said. “It’s important that, even if you don’t feel the least bit interested in doing a pathway, at least you know what (the ACCA) is.”
