About the Student Ambassador Program

Our Mission Statement

As Student Ambassadors, we visit local schools, meet with prospective students, and provide information regarding the programs and services offered at MiraCosta College. We get students excited about attending MiraCosta and assist them with the application and enrollment process. We also strive to increase the enrollment of underrepresented students.

Program Information

Initiated as a pilot project during the spring 1990 semester, the ambassadors have become a permanent and integral part of the college's outreach team. The group consists of twenty culturally diverse student leaders who serve as members of the School Relations and Diversity Outreach staff. Student Ambassadors are interviewed, hired and trained during the summer months in preparation for their work that begins each fall semester. They are supported by an annual budget that covers all student payroll and training costs.

The Student Ambassadors have been the primary tool in the School Relations/Diversity Outreach program's implementation of a specialized recruitment strategy which emphasizes early outreach and targets under-represented students. As part of this plan, the ambassadors have undertaken a comprehensive set of duties, which have enabled the college to secure its presence in the high schools, bring the college message to students in middle and elementary schools, and effectively target students from ethnically diverse backgrounds.

With cooperation from the district high schools, each ambassador holds weekly on-site peer counseling sessions at an assigned school. These sessions cover the first stages of the admissions process and ensure that interested students receive ongoing pre-enrollment advising. The ambassadors have also been instrumental in the expansion of the early outreach program by delivering regular on- and off-campus college workshops for middle and elementary school students. These workshops are designed to reach students at an early age in order to encourage them to stay in school and someday pursue a college education.

The Student Ambassadors have enjoyed a great deal of success since the advent of the program. Recent high school graduates consider MiraCosta College to be a very attractive college option as evidenced by the fact that the average age of the student body has decreased by over two years, while the number of students enrolled full-time has nearly doubled. Ambassador efforts have also contributed to the increasing diversity of the student body as the percentages of Asian-Pacific, African-American, and Latino students have climbed steadily over the past several years.