2nd Grade Ambassadors Bring Light and Leadership at Mark DeLay

Student Ambassadors in 2nd grade at Mark DeLay have become a strong part of the school community since the program began in the 2022-23 school year. Each school year a new group of 2nd graders are able to become ambassadors.

Students are nominated by their 1st grade teachers before the year begins if they display a few key attributes. In order to be good ambassadors students should:

• Have a positive attitude and outlook at school
• Have good self-discipline, a willingness to help others
• Be dependable
• Enjoy meeting and talking to new people and sharing creative ideas for school wide rewards and initiatives.

Ambassadors are then chosen by the principal and assistant principal for the school year. The group is led by Ms. Kritikos and Mrs. Reschke who encourage leadership and participation for ambassadors.

"We feel it's important to give the students leadership roles in school to give them a sense of ownership and strengthen our school community," they said. "It allows for them to understand that it's important for their voice to be heard and that their opinions are valued even from a young age. They also have the opportunity to be the voice on behalf of their class and peers which in turn strengthens their communication skills" 

The ambassadors get to take on a number of different initiatives throughout the year. They really enjoy voting on the schoolwide rewards when the school is able to fill the "Banana tree" and making videos for school announcements.

Most notably, several of the ambassadors have stated their favorite part of the role is to bring a sense of humor and lightheartedness into the school building with their "Funny Friday" videos featured in the school's daily announcements. One example is the joke: "Why did the cookie join school? Why? To become a SMART cookie!" 

Some of these awesome ambassadors were able to join the February board meeting and share their highlights from the year so far.