Global Ambassador Program Aims to Foster Connections Between Extension School Students

The Global Ambassador program at the Harvard Extension School aims to foster connections between students taking courses off-campus by tasking select student representatives with hosting events for their respective cities.

Launched in fall 2018, the initiative has since expanded to 25 student ambassadors spanning 10 countries and five continents. The ambassadors receive support from the Extension School to host meetups in their designated cities and create local networks of Extension School students.

Extension School students may choose from a mix of online and on-campus courses to complete their Bachelor of Liberal Arts or Master of Liberal Arts degrees, as well as a variety of certificate programs.

Kenneth M. Marshall, a Seattle-based ambassador, said he chose the Extension School in part due to its flexible online learning options.

“I was interested in attending an online school that was challenging in terms of core curriculum and also something I might be able to do around full time work,” Marshall said.

Several current ambassadors said they first heard about the initiative last fall through an email encouraging them to apply.

“After learning about the program and reading about it, I was motivated to apply because I wanted to help contribute,” April Fong, an ambassador based in Taipei, Taiwan, said.

Extension School ambassadors are granted access to the Zoom video conferencing platform, which allows them to facilitate discussions digitally.

“The meeting kind of took a life on its own, and people started having real conversations between them and pretty much they forgot about me, which I love,” Pablo G. Maceiras De Araujo, an ambassador who recently hosted a digital meet-up for students in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, said. “They started talking and giving recommendations to each other.”

Several current ambassadors said the program gives students the chance to build support networks, especially amidst confusion regarding the Extension School’s role at Harvard.

“One interesting discussion we had was how did you represent yourself to people who don’t understand, who don’t know what HES is,” Eric X. Ding, a New York ambassador who hosted a panel discussion last week, said. “I think that is a very interesting and a tricky matter for a lot of new students to navigate.”

Chicago-based ambassador Carmen Gardner, who also serves as the President of the Harvard Extension Student Association, said students are enthusiastic about the initiative.

“They’re excited that there are efforts to engage them,” Gardner said. “It’s really exciting to me just because I think that these kinds of programs need to exist because it allows the Extension School to collaborate with dedicated students.”

Gardner added that there are some barriers that prevent Global Ambassadors from reaching the entire student body.

“As a Global Ambassador, you don’t receive an email list, so you don’t necessarily know how many students are a part of your community,” Gardner said. “The other challenge is that as a Global Ambassador, you do not receive any funding, so what you’re essentially doing is organizing an event and asking people to either buy tickets or just show up and pay cash.”

Division of Continuing Education spokesperson Harry J. Pierre said the DCE is excited about the Global Ambassador program’s positive reception, though he added that the program is still in its pilot phase.

“We’re glad that a lot of students are getting more involved in the Global Ambassador program and that they’re finding a sense of community through this program,” Pierre said. “Those are concerns that the program is going to work through and work on as it gets more mature and as it gains more members.”

— Staff writer Andy Z. Wang can be reached at andy.wang@thecrimson.com.