Alice Evans is a Lead Ambassador and shares her experience of her first Lead Ambassador work opportunity on an IBCP Research Visit to the Templeman Library on the Canterbury Campus.
My first job as a Lead Ambassador was last Friday. In the morning while getting ready, I was double-checking the schedule for the school visit to make sure I had everything correct. I had had a briefing with one of the staff members a couple days before to iron out any questions I had about the day.
The event was something new to me, it was a library visit from The Malling School Year 12 students, so I was a bit more apprehensive than the regular campus visit I was used to. On my walk to the University, my mind ran through every possible scenario that could go wrong during the day – as a sort of preparation. After I arrived, the first supporting ambassadors came in just as I was organising the resources I had been given, to make sure they were all in order. Once I was sure the supporting ambassadors had all arrived, I gave a short talk about the event and told them that if they had any problems they could come to me.
From then on, throughout the day my main function was running around between classrooms, making sure both morning sessions were running smoothly. I did a variety of things from working out how a projector worked, fetching extra chairs, passing on attendance sheets, transferring ambassadors’ belongings, to advising the tutor what to discuss if their session ended early. Typically, the two sessions didn’t end at the same time so I had to manage one session getting to the library and trying to get the other session to wrap up to balance things out – though it worked out in the end.
As the day went on, I became more accustomed to my role and was more confident. The supporting ambassadors I had were absolutely wonderful, and were so helpful during the visit, so without them the day would have been so much harder.
When the school left, I gave a little debrief to my ambassadors and took any feedback they had given me, to the staff member when I went to the Registry for my own debriefing. At the end of the visit I felt secure that I gave it my best shot and I am now eager to participate in future lead ambassador job opportunities.