Peer Ambassador Program Recognized at Conference

Clover Park Technical College's Office of Student Programs launched the Peer Ambassador program last year to decrease barriers and increase access to academic and support services for students.

The pilot program was a success based on data collected and feedback. The program was recently recognized on a statewide level among community and technical colleges, earning the Excellence in Innovation Award at the LEAD 2014 Leadership and Activities Institute, sponsored by the Council of Unions and Student Programs. The award recognizes outstanding new contributions that have initiated positive organizational change on a local or state level.

The CUSP award presentation was just part of the three-day conference in Wenatchee designed to bring together student leaders from across the state to develop leadership skills, practice networking and to collaborate with others.

Under the direction of Kandi Bauman, student engagement coordinator, the Peer Ambassador program includes five campaigns that promote student-to-student interaction designed to  meet the needs and challenges of CPTC students. Bauman also spoke about the program as a conference presenter with her talk Success Starts Here: Strategies and Tools for Peer to Peer Programs. She received positive feedback from other colleges and requests for site visits to see the Peer Ambassador program in action.

"The reason the program has been so awesome is the students have made it awesome," Bauman said. "I ask them to do something and they do it and put a face to it. I can give them accolades all day, but at the state level for 32 community colleges to say you're doing a great job, I think was really meaningful for them."

The Peer Ambassador program serves as a bridge between the Office of Student Involvement and Student Services. The five campaigns include a Peer-to-Peer Help Desk, Phone a Friend, Prize Cab, Midterm Break Room and Job Readiness. The Peer Ambassadors will be out and about on campus for the first two weeks of Fall Quarter starting Sept. 22.

For more information about CPTC's ASG, visit www.cptc.edu/asg.