By
Lia Pittman
November 26, 2008
Freshmen don’t have to feel so confused or lost when on campus any more.
The ASUW has been tackling a new program designed to increase freshmen involvement on campus, in the form of ASUW Ambassadors. The program began Oct. 16 and has continued to be a success, said Gerald Corporal, the ASUW director of community relations and a mentor to an assigned ambassador.
“Essentially, employees were assigned an ambassador and they were to meet with them at least once throughout the quarter, provide insight on their experience of being a part of ASUW and answer any questions the ambassador might have,” Corporal said.
The program takes 50 incoming freshmen and trains them on how the ASUW can help personal development and can be a medium for student voice, according to the ASUW Web site. These ambassadors will then take their new knowledge of ASUW to the freshmen interest group (FIG) classes to incorporate the other freshmen.
“Hearing the ambassadors speak, I have personally been amazed at the amount of knowledge that they have on ASUW in their very first quarter,” Corporal said.
FIGs are an important aspect of this program and each FIG was encouraged to have an ambassador. The majority of ambassadors chosen this year are members of a FIG.
More than 40 students have signed up for Ambassadors. Corporal attributes much of this success to the four founders of the program: Courtney Hampson, Madeleine McKenna, Jason Padvorac and Timothy Mensing. The founders created this program from scratch and had very little funding.
Getting freshmen involved with the ASUW can be a challenge because of the University’s large size. Much of the interest in the ASUW comes from Dawg Daze and word of mouth, Corporal said, and the ambassador program aims to expand on that.
He adds that ASUW members also want to make their association more visible and transparent to the student body.
“The ASUW exists to serve the entire student body and if the student body isn’t aware of the ASUW and all it has to offer, then the ASUW becomes irrelevant,” Corporal said.
Senior Grace Amos believes this program is a good idea, but is hesitant as to whether it will work or not.
“I would be interested to see what their proposals are to get freshmen interested and involved and keep them interested,” Amos said. “That will be their biggest challenge.”
The ASUW is targeting freshmen to become ambassadors because of their fresh ideas and passion for involvement, but retaining upperclassman involvement is important to them as well.
“They come with experience and institutional memory which is beneficial to the Association,” Corporal said.
But Corporal only expects for the program to get even better in upcoming years.
“In my opinion, this program has been extremely successful and what’s even more outstanding is that I’m positive that it will continue to get better and better every year,” Corporal said.
Reach reporter Lia Pittman at news@dailyuw.com.
3 Comments
#1 A skeptic
on November 25, 2008 at 10:21 p.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name)
I would be interested to see the ASUW think about why it cannot attract students easily and why it has lost touch with campus, as well as why it has huge budget issues with its entities every year. That will be ASUW's biggest challenge.
I'll be impressed by ASUW ambassadors if the ambassadors grow a pair, use their head, and vastly reform the structure and function of ASUW.
This article doesn't include what ASUW can do for students. That lack of purpose is not the author's omission, but perhaps the lack of clarity about whether or not such purpose exists.
#2 Jason Padvorac
on November 26, 2008 at 11:15 a.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
Hello, A skeptic! I appreciate your comments, and agree with you that we can always be improving. I do want to clarify a few things, though.
The ASUW does very well in recruitment of students to be volunteers and employees. For example, the UW Leaders program had 165 (!) applicants this year, which is all time record. The ASUW has a staff of about 50 students, and several hundred volunteers.
The reason we put so much time into creating the ASUW Ambassadors program was to increase *freshman* involvement. Many students on campus who would love to get involved immediately when they get to campus don't know where to start, and we wanted to help them. We even brought in people to talk about how to get involved on campus in ways not related to the ASUW. Right now, many of the Ambassadors are getting involved in student government AND other communities.
#3 Jason Padvorac
on November 26, 2008 at 11:20 a.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
“I would be interested to see the ASUW think about why it cannot attract students easily and why it has lost touch with campus.”
These conversations are ongoing at all levels in the organization, more so now than in many years. The student senate is right now considering major changes that would bring it into much closer contact with campus. The board of directors is starting a series of public forums this year, so you can share your ideas and criticism with them face to face.
At the first forum this year some very pointed, very direct questions were asked. Anttimo Bennett and the people on his board answered very openly acknowledged problems and discussed concrete ways to move forward. You should grow a metaphorical pair, come to the next forum, stand up, and read your comment verbatim. You will be pleasantly surprised at the response. ;)
“This article doesn't include what ASUW can do for students. That lack of purpose is not the author's omission, but perhaps the lack of clarity about whether or not such purpose exists.”
The purpose of the ASUW is to make life better for the 40,000 students on this campus. Many of the things we do have an impact but are not noticed by most students. For example, we are the ones who worked with students at other universities to get a 7% cap on YOUR yearly tuition increases. This has saved YOU personally many hundreds or thousands of dollars. If that was all the ASUW had done it would have justified its existence, but it does much more than that.
I do agree with you, though. We are not doing enough. With the resources that the ASUW has, in terms of money, volunteers, and influence, we could be doing so much more than we are now. The reason I got involved last spring quarter is because I see how much potential there is and I want to be there helping when it is unleashed. Fortunately, this year there are a lot of people in the ASUW, including its leadership, who are not content with the status quo and are actively moving past it and into the future.
There is so much more that I could say, but this is already a waaaaay long comment. If you’ve got anything more to add, please leave another one of your own! If you (or anybody else!), have any concerns, questions, or feedback that you want to share with somebody in person, just stop by the ASUW office on the first floor of the HUB and introduce yourself - the people there are really nice! If you want information about where you can apply your talents to help “vastly reform the structure and function of ASUW,” go to the employee directory on asuw.org and feel absolutely free to email any of them. They are there to serve you, and would love to hear what you have to say!
If any of that sounds intimidating or if you’ve got questions but don’t know exactly who to ask, shoot me an email at jpadvo@u.wash...) and I can help you! I’ve only been involved for two quarters now, so I still remember what it’s like to be on the outside looking in…
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