Students from middle and high schools at Yokota Air Base, Japan, came together for the Student Ambassador Bootcamp. This program, which includes school tours, equips student ambassadors with essential leadership and communication skills. They play a key role in helping newcomers and those leaving for other duty stations, making their transition smoother. The bootcamp offered Yokota students a chance to develop these vital skills for their ambassadorial roles.
“The student ambassador program is a three-day boot camp to help augment what our schools are trying to do with their transition programs, which are designed to help students in military families transition in and out of our school systems”, said Joshua Fly, 374th Airlift Wing school liaison program manager. “When a student arrive at a new school, they have to figure things out such as who they’re eating lunch with, where are their classes and where do they go if they need help. The student ambassadors are there to bridge that gap”.
Over fifty applications from students were received to attend the course, with all thirty available slots filled with students from both the middle school and high school on base. “We’ve brought in several military resources folks from the Professional Development Center to speak on things such as emotional intelligence and public speaking”, said Fly. “If our students don’t have a grasp on their own thoughts, feelings and emotions, how can they help others with these sorts of things?”.
In addition to learning material, students also participated in team-building events to emphasize the importance of communication between teammates. “We should use the leadership skills we’ve learned to work better together as a team”, said Tuvia Jean-Louis, a student ambassador. “When you understand the differences between everyone’s strengths and how they come into play, you’re able to get more things accomplished”.
Although the course was in a short time frame, student ambassadors will continue their learning on a monthly basis. “It’s an ongoing engagement between the base, the community and the schools”, said Fly, “We meet one Tuesday a month to re-engage with our student ambassadors, to promote the different initiatives and trainings that we offer within the school and to help address any issues”.
With the new school year beginning Aug. 19, these students will have the opportunity to implement the things that they’ve learned as student ambassadors within the next week. “It will be really fun once we start touring the newer kids around”, said Nicole Esteban, a student ambassador. “I think that it’ll be a bit easier to get through to them now that I can see these different types of personalities and, to a small extent, see a little bit of what’s going on inside their heads”.
