Like many incoming freshmen, Lilyia Garcia said she didn’t find her niche at the U. of I. campus right away. Now a junior in the School of Social Work, the Romeoville, Illinois, native didn’t participate in student activities initially but knew she needed the experiences.
However, Garcia began to find her footing at college after some guest speakers at the mandatory seminar class for social work majors spoke about strategies for successfully transitioning to college. Those speakers included students representing the Social Work Ambassadors, a group that performs outreach and recruiting activities aimed at the school’s current and prospective students.
At events on campus or visits to area high schools, the ambassadors discuss their experiences as students at Illinois, promote the School of Social Work and field questions – the most popular of which concerns the careers available to people with social work degrees, said senior Anne Coulomb, who, like Garcia, recently began her second appointment as an ambassador.
“Students value the opportunity to have informal conversations with the ambassadors and ask them questions,” said Rachael Dietkus, the assistant dean for student affairs in the school who coordinates the program. “Those conversations can never be taken for granted because they are often the tipping point for prospective students in the school. I see that often on students’ applications – getting feedback from an ambassador helped them decide to come here as opposed to going somewhere else.”
Another critical function for the ambassadors is serving as liaisons between students in social work and the school’s administrators, providing vital feedback on the school’s activities, classes and programs from students’ perspectives.
“Being an ambassador is a great opportunity to get to know your peers,” said Garcia, who added that her favorite activity with the program has been writing letters to incoming freshmen in social work welcoming them to campus for the fall semester.
“I felt like I was really connecting with them,” Garcia said. “I also wrote about how the school is a small and welcoming community, and you can really find your place here.”
From an uncertain freshman, Garcia bloomed into a campus leader, serving as an officer with the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity and as a workshop facilitator for the First Year Campus Acquaintance Rape Education program, which is mandatory for all university students.
Selecting the cohort of social work ambassadors at the beginning of each fall semester is challenging because the applicants tend to be exceptional scholars with significant volunteer and leadership experience, Dietkus said.
During high school in Arlington Heights, Illinois, Coulomb volunteered at a library and packed meals for a nonprofit organization. And while studying for a bachelor’s degree in social work at the U. of I., she worked with groups that assist refugees, including a Champaign nonprofit and a nongovernmental organization in Athens, Greece, during the school’s study abroad trip to that region in May 2016.
The majority of the eight to 15 students selected to be ambassadors each academic year are sophomores or juniors, who often return to serve multiple appointments with the group, Dietkus said.
To become ambassadors, social work majors must have taken the Social Work 101 and 200 courses and commit to working multiple recruiting events during the academic year.
“Coming to a big university can be intimidating, and the School of Social Work has become my home on campus,” said Coulomb, who expects to graduate in December. “It’s a small school, so people know you and say ‘hi’ in the halls. It’s great to share that with others.”