Ambassador Presence at UMSL Day

UMSL Day is a special event where potential students are invited to see all the programs UMSL has to offer! It consists of opportunities to meet with faculty, current students, and campus tours. For Lead Ambassador, senior biology major Shurouk Alkharabsheh, UMSL Day provides student organizations a great first impression toward prospective students in order to promote and expand their organization.

Shurouk attended UMSL Day with her fellow members of the Pre-Dental Society. “Not only did UMSL Day allow us to publicize the organization, we were also able to draw in potential students to join. It excites me to know that our organization will continue to grow even after I graduate,” she said.

Many Ambassadors not only represent the University, but also many other student organizations.

The National Society of Leadership and Success

The National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS) is a leadership organization in which its main mission is to shape leaders and help college students accomplish their goals. The society offers many scholarships and chances for members of the society to gather and discuss their main goals in life. Most importantly, it provides multiple live broadcasts of popular, successful figures who give out motivational speeches to help guide college students through their journey to success. One of our Ambassadors, Yazan has become a member of this society and is excited to share its success.

On November 9th there was a broadcast given by Jesse Eisenberg. He started out his speech talking about his own life experiences, how he managed to cope with his failures, and how he chose the right path to take developing as an individual. A great remark given by Eisenberg, which he used to keep him on the path to success and pursue his goal and purpose, was his constant effort to try and accomplish his goal even though there were huge chances of him failing. As he said, “Doing something is much better than not doing it at all.” Implicitly what he intended to convey to the audience is that staying at home instead of accomplishing your goals is way worse than failure. Every individual must take a leap of faith in order to reach their ultimate goals. Also, according to him, thinking positively about failures and learning from them will open endless opportunities for any individual to take advantage of and accomplish them. 

So go out there and accomplish your goals!

UMSL Ambassadors take on the Haunted House

On Friday, October 28th, the Pierre Laclede Honors College organized their annual haunted house at the Provincial house on campus. The event was open to anyone who dared to face the frightening Halloween chills and thrills. They also started the evening off with pizza to get folks pumped up before entering the rooms of doom. We UMSL Ambassadors partook in the festivities for the second year in a row! We went as a group as a part of our monthly social gatherings. What better way to bond with old and new members than enduring the things that go bump in the night? Fortunately, we all survived the spooks and scares. We look forward to the next social event together!  

UMSL Ranked One of the 2017 Best Global Universities

U.S. News & World Report recently ranked UMSL as one of the 2017 Best Global Universities! UMSL ranked number 777 out of 1,000 universities.  The focus of the rankings included academic research and the overall reputation of the university.

The below are the thoughts and feelings of one of our Ambassadors, Riann Rikard: 

I decided to attend UMSL because of its education and affordable price.  My experience of UMSL has been nothing but the best! Not only have I received a great education, I have branched out and became involved with various organizations on campus.  UMSL is dedicated to not only the students, but all who partake in the University.  I am glad that I chose to attend UMSL almost 3½ years ago, although I did not need a ranking to prove what a great decision I made!

Advance Leadership Program

This semester several of our fellow ambassadors have been accepted into the Advance Leadership Program here at UMSL. The advance leadership program is designed for Junior, Senior, and Graduate Students, and is designed to fine tune leadership skills through workshops, seminars, and site visits to businesses throughout St. Louis.

All participants are required to have a resume review, and meetings throughout the semester to touch base with their assigned leadership advisor. After each learning session the students are required to submit reflections on the topic discussed, and what improvements they could make on their own leadership. All the participants are required to attend at least 9 out of the 11 sessions which are usually held on Fridays throughout the semester.

At the end of the semester each participant is required to present in front of their fellow Advance Student leaders, Leadership, Advisors, and family a portfolio presentation on their personal leadership, and the ways the leadership program has assisted them in the improvement of their own leadership skills.

Four of the focuses in the program include... 

Modeling the Way:

• Inspiring a Shared Vision
• Challenging the Process
• Enabling Others to Act
• Encouraging the Heart

Some of the benefits from the program:

• Enhanced leadership skill development and training
• Opportunity to network with top level management in the St. Louis area
• Ability to articulate your extracurricular experiences to future employers
• Collaboration with other engaged student leaders
• Advanced Leaders graduates are honored at the Student Leadership Awards

This program is great opportunity for all students, but as a student ambassador it was wonderful to see several of my fellow ambassadors there also striving to be better leaders, and setting a great example.