Tuesday, March 1, 2005
CAMPUS BEAT: AAE Ambassadors: student politicians
By LESLIE BUTLER and AMANDA PEARSON / AAE Staff Writers
Photo by Teresa Dowd. In back, left to right, Vince Ajanwachuku, Austin Secrist, Troy Estes, Curtis Merrell, Sarah Pearson, Megan Loput and Autumn Bains. Senator Runner in front.
At the Academy for Academic Excellence, there is a program consisting of eight ambitious students who help decide the direction our school is going.
These students, called ambassadors, work with Mr. Rick Piercy, the CEO of the Lewis Center for Educational Research (the governing school's governing organization), and give a student's viewpoint of AAE to dignitaries who come to visit.
The ambassadors give tours of the AAE to senators, make presentations of the partnerships the Lewis Center has to charter school principals, and think of improvements for the the school.
Recently, they decided to build a "college library," where AAE students can get information about colleges and scholarships.
"Right now, it's difficult for juniors and seniors to get college information from the school counselors. With the college library, they can go to a designated area and find all the information they need," said senior Molly Estes. She has been in the Ambassador Program since its start in 2003.
The ambassadors attended the recent California Charter School Association Student Summit in Pasadena. There they presented information to other charter schools about the partnerships of the Lewis Center.
The other schools were impressed, and everyone left the summit with new ideas on how to improve their schools.
"I felt the CCSA was a great opportunity to help other charter schools advance their programs and ideas," said senior Hastin Zylstra.
Mr. Piercy came up with the idea for the Ambassador Program because he wanted "to provide a student's outlook (of the AAE) to other people," said senior Ryan Cartony. "He thought it would be nice to provide a break from staff opinions to the visiting senators and other important people."
After two years, the Ambassador Program is still going strong, with fresh ideas coming from the students who decide to represent the AAE with courage, generosity and honor.
Editor's note: Campus Beat is a special page generated once a month by local high school teenagers.
This month's page comes from ACADEMY FOR ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
Used with permission by Daily Press, Freedom Communication, 2005