An Ambassador?
Why would I give up my time?
Well, becoming an ambassador has been arguably one of the most significant and rewarding experiences of my time at UCA. My understanding of the arts as an area of study, my ability to express myself and my work more concisely and accurately, and my self-confidence, have increased.

For me the main reason for becoming an ambassador was to meet new people; students, potential students and faculty staff. This gave me the opportunity to widen my view of the university, and opportunities that were available to me. Many people go through their entire university experience without meeting or sharing experiences with other courses. This is something that I didn't want. The arts are such a collaborative subject area to study and it is incredibly important in my opinion that we bounce our ideas and styles off of each other in order to develop and further enhance our own styles.  

It also gave me a opportunity to earn some much needed cash, something this is a challenge for most students studying on a full time course. It was a much more reasonable hours and easier to balance with workloads, as your education remains the key focus of the faculty. I also wanted to be able to help guide other students to finding the best possible environment for their further study. At the end of my secondary education, I found myself feeling lost and unsure of what to do next. If I can prevent this for even one other student, I would do that in a heartbeat. 

I think the opportunities that I am most looking forward to is meeting ambassadors from other campuses and seeing how their experiences and outlook is different from ours at the Canterbury campus. This will give me an opportunity to be able to further my understanding of UCA as a whole. This will also give me a better idea of which UCA campus I would like to progress onto with my progression onto the degree course of my choice.

 I am also looking forward to working with younger artists through the many outreach programmes that the ambassadors assist with. The opportunity to inspire others is something that is incredibly special and unusual for someone of my age. This chance to widen the outlook and experiences of younger artists is something that I was given the stunning opportunity of during in my secondary school education, but many of these students may not have had such an inspiring or varied experience of the arts. 

Overall becoming an ambassador has increased my confidence and understanding of the environment around me and my own work. Its an opportunity that I have really embraced and that I think has widened my understanding of myself. I am also finding myself growing more bubbly and outgoing as time goes on and getting more comfortable talking in front of large groups of people. 

I would hugely encourage anyone thinking about joining the ambassadors team to just go for it. We all come from different backgrounds and we're a lovely group of people. If you're interested, just come up to one of the ambassadors and say hi!