While visiting Poudre High School in Spring 2019, Social Emotional Learning Specialist Finessa Ferrell sat in on a group interview for the Students Mentoring Students program. She observed four current student Ambassadors interviewing six sophomore candidates–here’s what she heard.
Sophomore Ambassador Candidate Interviews: Student Responses
What would you want freshmen to say about you as their Ambassador after your first year in this role?
“I want them to say I was helpful first, no judging them; that I gave them confidence and made them feel like they could do whatever they set out to do as long as they were willing to put in the effort and ask people to help them.”
“I would want each one to be able to describe the impact I had on their life.”
“I want to do what my Ambassador did for me—to get them out there, getting involved, taking a risk, speaking up and not being passive”
“I want them to describe me as loving everyone the same and believing that diversity is the greatest strength we have. Hopefully they might say I made them see the beauty of diversity if they didn’t already.”
“I want to be remembered as the person they could count on as in their corner 100%”
“I want them to say I helped them balance all the stuff in their life and manage the stress of having too much chaos and that feeling of being out of control changing to being more in control. That’s what my Ambassador did for me.”
If Poudre High School got money to improve our school what would you suggest they spend that money on?
“Incentives for being in an extra-curricular activity and incentives to attend them as well.”
“Ways to relive stress like a Zen Den space, or some sort of calming space in the school.”
“Double down on clubs, especially environmental and community service, and make it easy to join and participate.”
“Better and more constant outreach to students who don’t seem to have friends; create opportunities to make friends and find other students who like the stuff you like.”
“Art. We need more art on the walls, less white, more diverse, more textural, more color, more vibrant. Art should define our community. Right now it just looks bland and boring and unmotivating.”
“Decompression space with counselors, therapy dogs, social workers, peer advisors, listeners and huggers.”
Describe a book or movie that has had an impact on you and what you’ve taken from it.
“Little Prince; It shows really well how much kids see things differently than adults.”
“Miracle; It shows what I believe to be the most important thing to me as a person, that the team is always bigger than the individual, that there are bigger things we can accomplish together than as just a single person.”
“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off; I love that the message of this movie is live your life, be happy. Because being happy is the whole point. Not some random content, but the ability to know yourself and know that you can make yourself happy.”
“Sixteen Candles; I watch this movie over and over again—it’s my favorite movie of all time. It reminds me that in the 80’s your relationships were in person, not on the phone or social media. Relationships were real and not enhanced or made up by using technology.”
“A Star Is Born; I just saw this movie and I was struck by how acknowledging you have a problem and asking for help, plus having relationships that help you get through it, is really how people overcome challenges.”
“Wonder; I think everyone should see this movie. It shows that it doesn’t matter what you look like, what matters is that inside humans are more similar than anything else. If people just realized that humans are incredibly more similar than different, we would have a different world.”
The last part of the interview was to create a question to break the ice when first meeting with a freshman pod. One student had an especially creative response:
If one of your hands was a fluid dispenser and you could have unlimited supply of a different fluid from each finger, which five fluids would you want?
That student’s own answer to the question? Saline solution, glue, ranch dressing, water and kombucha.