Library ambassadors: written by Dennie Park

Hi everyone, my name is Dennie Park and I am a student in my 3B term of Joint Psychology and Science! I have been a part of the library ambassadors program since its start in Spring 2016. It’s been an amazing experience growing as a student through this role alongside the Library Ambassador project itself! I am very grateful for the Library Ambassador program because I feel that it had a huge role in helping me grow stronger as a person and be more confident in myself and my abilities.

I absolutely recommend the job to anyone who is thinking about applying (as many friends can attest) because it truly is a great opportunity to grow as a student and to give back to the campus community. The Library Ambassador program pushes us to develop our skills and we learn to apply many skills through the job in a  variety of situations. Library Ambassadors get one-on-one mentorship meetings with a library staff member(s) of our choice, and we are offered guidance by the co-leads of the program when we are unsure of what to do next for our projects or questions in general. I have also gotten to know other staff in the library, who are all incredibly friendly and supportive! I really, really love that there is a focus on helping students improve in areas we feel we are weak in. For example, I had never really had much experience being in any leadership positions, and was encouraged to pursue my goal and was placed in roles that would allow me to develop my skills. I am much more comfortable now doing this and even landed a position as an executive for an on campus organization thanks to the work I did here. I really appreciate everything I have been able to do through this project and love seeing new people join it every term.

As a Library Ambassador, you are also given an opportunity every term to develop and lead a student engagement project by yourself or as a team with other Library Ambassadors about pretty much anything! We are encouraged to think outside the box and follow our interests and passions to really reach out to the campus community. My past projects include a photo booth session with our mascot, Scholar the Goose, and monthly book displays highlighting works by authors from marginalized groups. This term I will be working with Rabia, another senior Ambassador who has been with the program since the beginning, to create a mindfulness activity table during finals to help students relieve stress and have an opportunity to relax! There will be a variety of activities to choose from, so that people can find different ways to de-stress. We are super excited about it and cannot wait to get everything together!

If you see me around campus, feel free to say hello and ask me about the position or the library in general if you’d like!

-Dennie