Multicultural Outreach & Recruitment Ambassador
|
Harry the Husky & I at MOR's Purple & Gold Conference in Spring 2019
|
Being an ambassador for Multicultural Outreach & Recruitment (MOR) has been one of the highlights of my UW experience. This position and the MOR family have shaped the trajectory of my career and interests. I’m immensely grateful to have been a part of this community and to have engaged with thousands of prospective students of color over the years. During the academic year I worked with MOR on an events basis, aiding staff to host trainings for other ambassadors or facilitate events, but in the summer of 2020 I worked part-time, gaining much more hands on experience.
In this role, I facilitated collaborative trainings of employees on effective outreach initiatives for engagement of underrepresented minoritized (URM) populations, specializing in the Black community. I mentored other ambassadors and provided ongoing professional development workshops on topics such as identity and authenticity, historic representation, and outreach. I recruited and retained diverse students from across WA state through outreach programs within diverse communities, facilitating motivational workshops, and encouraging pride in underrepresented student identities. One of my favorite aspects of this role was working with staff and other ambassadors to coordinate annual initiatives, recruitment pipelines, and multicultural services. These included Shades of Purple Conferences, iDub Application Workshops, and The Purple & Gold Experience more generally, in addition to affinity specific events such as Young Gifted & Black, RISE: Readiness for Islander Success in Education, Native American Student Day, Rising SEAs: Rising SouthEast Asian Students, & Esperanza en Educacion. Pictured to the left are some of my favorite memories over the years representing OMA&D. |
Campus Tour Guide - Admissions Representative
UW Office of Admissions Campus Visit Program (CVP)
My first tour guide photo winter 2018
Instagram Takeover on UW account broadcasting to 154,000 followers
|
My freshman year on campus, I applied to be a Tour Guide. Amidst an extremely competitive hiring cycle of over 150 students, I was selected alongside 19 others to join the Campus Visit Program Team. Over the years, I’ve grown immensely as an individual and in my understanding of the UW. It has been so impactful to recognize my growth over the years through the evolution of my tour. UW campus tours are 75 minutes and a mix between university information and personal stories.
Representing the university enhanced my public speaking and efficacy in communication immensely. I recruited diverse individuals across the U.S. and internationally with impactful engagement methods over the last four years. I executed large scale events with my team housing up to 5000 guests for Admitted Student Previews. My favorite tour I’ve ever given was to a group of students from South Africa at the end of summer 2019 who, due to their academic achievement, were sponsored by the South African government to explore universities in Europe & the United States. In our two hours together, I developed a connection to those students and felt as much pride as they did in how far they’ve come. It was incredible to resonate with one another so deeply in our life experiences when we’ve grown up thousands of miles apart. Another memorable tour that has to be a close second was when I gave an alumni tour to the Class of 1969 for their 50 year reunion. This was one of the most endearing tours as it felt like a conversation with the alumni. I shared my experiences as a current student and got to hear their anecdotes as well. They reminisced on how Red Square used to be a grassy field and laughed at how they organized protests, refusing to pay more than a few hundred dollars in tuition every year....I wish! The most important memory I’ve had as an admissions representative was designing and administering a Black Lives Matter training workshop to 80+ tour guides to prompt reflection on positionality and inform approach to student engagement, recruitment, outreach, and university representation. After the murder of George Floyd, I felt it was extremely important that admissions representatives of CVP were equipped with the knowledge and understanding to have the hard conversations that would inevitably arise with future prospective families. The CVP team has always been predominantly white and has struggled to discuss diversity on their tours. I’m grateful for the opportunity to increase their understandings so that they are able to better represent the university and have conversations with families of color in the future. To the right are some photos of me throughout my time as an admissions representative. |