Our Student Ambassadors
We want to give a big shout-out to our Newman Ambassadors! These are a group of 27 students (18 returning and nine new 7th graders) who have chosen and been chosen to learn as much as they can about the foundations of our school, and to share this knowledge and our Cor ad Cor spirit with potential new Newman families. 
Students who chose to pursue this important role at Newman jumped right in earlier this year by giving Kate Nagle, the faculty member who oversees the program, a practice tour of the building. They readily opened themselves up to feedback as they learned how to best highlight all that we have to offer. While part of their responsibility includes touring prospective families and answering questions along the way, their ambassadorial role is much bigger. They are key connectors between prospective students and admissions—both in terms of providing families first and overall impressions of our school, and in terms of letting admissions know how the tour went. Besides giving tours, some of our ambassadors are also charged with attending our virtual open house events, writing Thank You cards to prospective students, writing notes to admitted students in the spring, attending Admitted Students Day, connecting with new students over the summer, and helping new students settle in at the beginning of the year. These students, individually known for their positive attitudes about Newman, are also recognizable as a united group—sometimes spotted in their student-designed (Mia Brillantes) tee-shirts.
The group is handily led by students, Lucy Keesbury and Alice Franceschet, who are responsible for training the ambassadors and each writing a letter that will go out to prospective families. They love to get to speak to some of their favorite aspects of Newman—Lucy crediting her teachers as making them excited to learn and Alice loving being able to talk to classmates in different languages! They love being charged with “build[ing] relationships with the families, as well as act[ing] as a bridge between the admissions team and the student body.” While serving as a lead ambassador and “maintaining that positive attitude about our school while feeling very stressed…with schoolwork” can be hard there are many rewarding moments including “a couple of years ago when this parent came up…and told [them]that her student was choosing Newman because all the ambassadors were so welcoming at Accepted Students Day that it felt like they already were enrolled.” Alice’s favorite moment as an ambassador was being able to do a tour completely in Italian.” Newman is so international!
Newman values our ambassadors because, as Kate Nagle says, they are “genuine” voices, “each [with] a unique story to tell” that is invaluable to prospective families (especially the prospective students). And reciprocally, Lucy and Alice, as well as all of the ambassadors, value the experience they are getting as ambassadors—one that will definitely help them with their college and career goals!
Newman provides opportunity for students from diverse backgrounds to pursue serious studies in a welcoming and supportive environment where self and community are paramount.
