This year, Menlo introduced an Ambassador Program to help welcome the incoming ninth graders onto campus at the Freshman Orientation. The program consisted of a small group of upperclassmen who were selected to serve as student leaders to guide new freshmen through their transition to high school by providing leadership, guidance and support. While upperclassmen have helped out with freshmen integration in various ways in the past, the new and improved Ambassador Program intends to provide more comprehensive opportunities for student leaders to represent Menlo.

In the spring, Associate Director of Admissions Melanie Rossi identified and reached out to a group of 36 rising juniors and seniors who she felt would be excellent mentors for the new freshmen because of their leadership qualities and enthusiasm for helping others. 

To prepare for their role, the ambassadors were asked to attend a leadership training session on campus the day before the Freshman Orientation. The training was run by Keith Hawkins, a motivational speaker who spoke at a Menlo assembly last fall and has previously worked with Upper School Assistant Director Adam Gelb at multiple schools. Hawkins walked the students through a comprehensive day-long leadership workshop with different breakout sessions that taught them how to engage and assist the new students effectively. “[Hawkins] crafted an engaging environment that made [the training] enjoyable, and a bonding experience for all of us,” junior ambassador Julia Axelrod said. 

During the orientation, the freshmen were divided into advocacy groups, each guided by two student ambassadors. “I just wanted to make the freshman feel like they could do stuff that maybe seemed embarrassing or awkward and just have fun with it,” junior ambassador Sophie Housser said. 

The ambassadors led the freshmen through various activities, answered their questions and offered advice. “It was great to get to know my specific group [of freshmen] and to see all of them get to know each other better,” junior ambassador Landon Lee said. 

So far, the Freshman Orientation has been the only event the ambassadors have helped with. However, Rossi and Dean of Student Life and Culture Alexis Bustamante, hope to involve the ambassadors more over the course of the school year, possibly in Back-to-School Night and admissions events. 

Bustamante, Rossi and Gelb are still figuring out what the future of the Ambassador Program will look like in the next couple of years. “This program has let us have bigger conversations about what our leadership development looks like as a whole,” Bustamante said. Going forward, Bustamonte is curious to see how this program will help identify student leaders on campus and provide more student leadership opportunities outside of student council and clubs. “There is no cookie cutter definition of what a leader is; people can lead in their own ways […] [and] being able to pool students with different leadership styles is something that I’m excited and curious to explore,” she said.