By Merritt Frey, Executive Director
Are you a curious high school student looking to make a difference in the world? If you are, we want to make a difference with you!
Mali Rising's Youth Ambassadors engage the energy of young people here in the U.S. to help Mali Rising's students in Mali. At the same time, Ambassadors are building their own leadership skills, adding a unique element to their college applications, and fostering international understanding among young people.
Any U.S. high school student is eligible to apply to be an Ambassador. The deadline for applications is September 30. Youth Ambassadors are selected in September/October and serve for the length of the school year. We select only the most outstanding ten applicants to be Youth Ambassadors each year. Once they become an official Ambassador, students come together virtually to work together on learning and serving.
Each month, Ambassadors learn about an area of international development and education, and discuss what they have learned with each other. In addition, Ambassadors come together monthly (likely via video link this year, due to the pandemic) to plan their service projects, learn from guest speakers about leadership and international development, enjoy discussions with our Malian staff and students, and share their insights with each other. Throughout the year, Ambassadors also correspond with students in Mali and conduct reflections about their own learning and leadership development.
Over the course of their Ambassador year, students tackle three service projects designed to position them as leaders who can engage other young people in international issues. This year, the Ambassador’s first project will be to promote Mali Rising’s Speech Up campaign – a contest where high school students create a short video responding to a prompt about international development — at their school, youth groups, or other venues.
Ambassadors will vote to decide on their second and third projects. Their options will include:
Spread the love event with notes of support to students in Mali – Instead of sappy Valentine’s Day love notes, Ambassadors will organize and lead a drive to have students at their school or group write short, fun notes of encouragement to our students.
Video library lessons – Ambassadors will write and direct themselves and/or others delivering one to three “lessons” from our students’ textbooks. English language, chemistry, physics, or biology available. These videos are used in our Mali classrooms where video is a rare treat in classrooms that otherwise have only a chalkboard!
Make flashcards – Ambassadors will recruit and lead a small group of volunteers (may be done physically separate to comply with COVID-19 restrictions) to create illustrated English language flashcards for use by our students.
Build a Library in a Box Drive – Ambassadors will raise funds for our first-ever traveling “library” of 40 books, including reference books and culturally relevant novels.
The projects done by Youth Ambassadors provide truly helpful support for our schools and students in Mali. At the same time, these projects help the Ambassadors develop crucial skills. Ambassadors who complete the program show improved leadership abilities, understanding of international issues, organizational skills, communication skills, and marketing capabilities. Ambassadors also graduate the project with enhanced abilities in teamwork, a deeper understanding of the value of education (and how easy it is for students in the United States to access education!), and improved critical thinking capacity.
Plus, it is a whole lot of fun! Apply to be part of the Youth Ambassadors Project this year.
