This month, the ambassadors wanted to draw attention to our great military veterans and all they do, while also giving other students the opportunity to show their appreciation, too.
Ambassadors collaborated with Community Park to host a Veteran’s Day event honoring our local veterans, as well as, our local homeless veterans. Students showed their support and appreciation for them by making them cards and a giant American flag made up of smaller cards.
Several ambassadors delivered the flag to a local Veteran’s home on Nov. 17. The individual cards will be distributed not only to that same home, but also to homeless veterans through the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs.
This is how Ambassador Evan Haag felt about the event:
The Veteran’s day event was a great way to inspire my fellow college students to be proactive in supporting our soldiers. Nearly everyone would say that they support the veterans, however, not as many may show their support through action. I felt this event would create a way for college students to show their support in a non-time-consuming and easy way.
Since both Thanksgiving and Christmas are only around two months away, Veterans Day is a holiday that is often observed, but not truly embodied. I participated in this event to help raise awareness and to bring more attention to this extremely important holiday.
I got the satisfaction of supporting our men and women in our armed forces who fight to keep America among the greatest of the countries in the World.
REACH Ambassadors are sophomore students who mentor most UofL first-year students on campus. There are 39 ambassadors this semester who work to connect students to campus, help first-year students transition to college and help students develop leadership qualities and take on leadership responsibilities. By becoming engaged in campus activities, students are more likely to stay in school and succeed.
The REACH Ambassador program averages about eight service-learning events per semester, all benefiting local causes and targeting retention for first-year students. We have several other non-service events as well, also held with first-year students’ retention in mind. More than 100 first-year students have participated in our first four of eight service-learning activities this fall. About 400 first-year students have participated in ambassador events this fall.
Any first-year student can connect with their ambassador at ambassador events, during office hours at the ambassador office, through their UofL e-mail or generally around campus.