The GW Engineering Office of Graduate Admissions and Student Services (OGA) goes above and beyond to provide proactive and intentional support to our graduate student community. An important part of this effort is their Graduate Ambassador Program through which they recruit and train current students to serve as ambassadors. As we bid farewell to the extraordinary team of Graduate Ambassadors for the 2023-2024 academic year – Shrinivas Petale, Nahom Melaku, Jeneva Hinojosa, Mobolade Olawale, Tamima Ahmed, Aditya Singh, Bengisu Sisik, and Iyad Ait Hou – we would like to highlight a few of the many ways they have helped OGA.
Positive, communicative, highly-involved, professional, and open-minded and accepting are all qualities that embody a GW Engineering Graduate Ambassador. These exceptional individuals play pivotal roles in leadership by building and facilitating the graduate student community at GW Engineering throughout their one-year term. Together, they engage with prospective, new and current students and organize and participate in activities to encourage research participation, innovation and community building.
“One of the most significant ways the graduate ambassadors help us is by engaging in our incoming student ‘chats’ and ‘communities.’ This enables incoming students to talk to current students and get questions answered, concerns eased, and generally get excited about joining GW Engineering!” said Erin Vogt, Senior Associate Director of Graduate Recruitment and Admissions. She added, “This past year, a few of our ambassadors even met up with new friends at the airport or around campus to give them a warm welcome.”
Graduate ambassadors also play an important role in event execution, from brainstorming event ideas to helping with logistics. An example of this Vogt gave was OGA’s annual Ph.D. Visit Day where they met with admitted Ph.D. students to offer them a current student perspective and a glimpse into a “day in the life” of a GW Engineering Ph.D. student. This cohort of ambassadors has truly enriched the fabric of GW Engineering’s graduate student experience. Thank you to the 2023-2024 Graduate Ambassadors for all of your hard work!