The Griffin Editorial: What About The Ambassadors We Have?

For many prospective students, a Student Ambassador is one of their first personal connections to Canisius University. The position, however, involves more than giving campus tours. Student Ambassadors represent the university at Admission events, information sessions, Open House and other events where prospective students and their families are getting their first impression of Canisius. Due to that, it makes sense that the university wants to make sure its ambassadors are prepared to represent the school well. 

This semester, the Student Ambassador program has undergone a change in leadership, bringing changes to how Ambassadors are trained and evaluated. Every current Ambassador is now expected to shadow another tour guide before completing an evaluation tour. The changes are new, and, understandably, new leadership would want to establish expectations and make sure the students representing Canisius are meeting them.

In many ways, the evaluation process is reasonable. Not every Ambassador has the same level of experience, and not every Ambassador has always been at their best while giving tours. For newer Ambassadors, additional training can help them become more comfortable with the position. For Ambassadors who have developed a reputation for not being fully prepared or not giving their best tours, having a supervisor observe them provides an opportunity to see where they need to improve and whether they should continue in the role. Prospective students and their families deserve to meet Ambassadors who are knowledgeable, professional and prepared to answer their questions. Having a supervisor attend a tour and evaluate how a student represents Canisius is a reasonable way to maintain that standard. The issue is not that Ambassadors are being evaluated; it’s what happens when the same process is applied to Ambassadors who have already spent years proving themselves.

Some Ambassadors have given countless tours and spent years learning how to represent Canisius. They have answered questions from prospective students and parents, learned how to handle different personalities and dealt with the unpredictable situations that come with leading a group around campus. Some are even considered leads within the program and have been trusted with additional responsibility. These students have already demonstrated that they can do the job. That does not mean they should never receive feedback or be held accountable, but their experience should be part of the conversation. There is a difference between helping an experienced Ambassador improve and treating that Ambassador as though they have to prove from the beginning that they belong in the position. New training can establish consistency, but it cannot replace the experience that comes from actually doing the job for years.

At the same time, there is another issue that current Ambassadors are experiencing: hours. Some Ambassadors can go weeks without being scheduled for a regular tour and may only be scheduled when there is a special event, such as a Saturday information session or Open House. This is especially frustrating for students who are willing to work more. There are Ambassadors who want additional hours, want to learn, want to take on more responsibility and want to build the trust of their supervisors. The official position is Student Ambassador because the job extends beyond tours, so there is certainly a reason for the program to have enough students available for different Admission responsibilities. When current Ambassadors have limited opportunities to work while new students are being interviewed to join the program, it is fair to ask how those decisions are being made.

There is a reasonable explanation for hiring new Ambassadors. If some students have not represented Canisius well, the university should be able to find students who will. A program should not keep someone simply because they have been there for a long time. However, there is a difference between replacing Ambassadors who are not meeting expectations and continuing to expand the program when there are already Ambassadors who are willing and able to do more. That is where the question becomes less about whether the new leadership is changing the program and more about whether the program is making the best use of the people already in it. Why are we expanding the pool before figuring out how to better use the people already here?

The previous structure was not perfect, and there is no reason to assume that everything about it needs to remain the same. However, there was more structure for Ambassadors who came into work and found that there was not a tour waiting for them. If an Ambassador came in and there was nothing specific to do, there were still ways to spend that time working rather than simply waiting for the next tour or special event. That gave students more opportunities to contribute to the program and feel like they were actually working in the position they had been hired for. When Ambassadors can now go weeks without regular tours, it becomes worth considering what the program can offer those students during that time and whether there are ways to make better use of the people who are already trained and willing to work.

If I could say something directly to the current leadership, it would be that the changes being implemented are reasonable to an extent, and the effort to make sure Ambassadors are properly representing Canisius is something worth respecting. I would encourage leadership to sit down with some of the trusted Ambassadors who are not leads and ask them what they want to see from the program. Ask what they think is working, what has changed that has not been beneficial to them, what they would like to have more opportunities to do and what would make them feel more invested in the program. That conversation does not mean leadership has to implement every suggestion. Listening to Student Ambassadors does not mean giving them control over the program. It simply means allowing the people who experience the program firsthand to be heard. There may be things that Ambassadors notice that leadership has never had a reason to consider, and there may be ideas that come from those conversations that could make the program stronger without requiring leadership to abandon the changes it has already made.

The Student Ambassador program does not have to choose between accountability and trust, or between new students and experienced ones. It can evaluate Ambassadors who need to be evaluated, provide additional training where it is necessary and still recognize the experience of students who have consistently represented Canisius well. It can bring new students into the program when there is a genuine need while also giving current Ambassadors opportunities to work more, learn more and take on additional responsibility. New leadership has the opportunity to shape the program, but it also has an opportunity to learn from the people who have already been part of it. Before asking who else can be brought into the program, perhaps the more important question is what can be done with the Ambassadors who are already here. Sometimes improving a program does not mean adding more people. Sometimes it means listening to the people who were already there.