The vital role of student ambassadors in the GFS admissions process.
By Maggie Ruger ’26
Art by Joey Szpilczak ’27
Many Germantown Friends School students share a formative experience: before enrolling, they made a visit to campus and took an admissions tour. And, more specifically, a tour led by a student ambassador whose passion for and knowledge of the school is a large factor in families’ decisions to enroll their children at GFS. But who are the student ambassadors? And how do they so effectively convey the unique appeal of GFS, winning over prospective students and families?
Student ambassadors operate within the club system, where students sign up to be shadow hosts, tour guides, or both. They are then trained and assigned to different tours or families by student club leaders who ensure that each ambassador is ready to take on their tasks. The whole organization is structured to promote student autonomy and agency. Once trained, student ambassadors are given a basic walking route and set of talking points for each building. However, the rest is customizable and dependent on the individual perspective of the tour guide.
For Lauren O’Garro-Moore, director of Upper School Admissions and the Student Ambassador Club faculty advisor, individuality is one of the most effective parts of how the ambassadors do their job. “Tours are so important because it’s a chance to showcase how wonderful our students are and how they are not all the same type of person,” O’Garro-Moore says, adding, “There are lots of different people who come here and do wonderful things, and so we just hope that students and families will find that sense of kinship when they come.”
Student ambassadors highlight their individuality and knowledge of the GFS community, adding color to their tours. Grayson Graham ’25 always shows up to admissions with a coffee in his hand and points out the Open Door, one of his favorite places on campus. Emmie Day ’26 makes sure to say “hi” to different members of the community throughout all divisions in order to emphasize the close-knit and personal culture of GFS. The Student Ambassador Club exposes prospective families to a diverse range of student experiences, allowing them to envision themselves as future members of the GFS community.
If a student ambassador presents not just the school but themself in a unique and appealing manner, they can convince students and families to enroll. As O’Garro-Moore points out, “Having a successful experience with their tour guides often leaves families with an overarching feeling of ‘I want my kid to be like that.’”
For Aaliya Panyadahundi ’28, going on a tour and shadowing a Student Ambassador played a positive role in her ultimate decision to attend GFS in ninth grade. “[Going on a shadow tour] was really good because I got to see the teaching styles, and I learned what the community was like. It was a [strong] component in my decision-making.”
It takes sacrifice and dedication to be a student ambassador; they have to memorize talking points, give up their free periods, and come in early on Wednesday mornings for the almost weekly “Tiger Tours”—but it is ultimately an incredibly valuable and important responsibility. For Graham, however, being a student ambassador (and now a club leader) has been a way for him to connect with the school on a deeper level and learn more about why it operates the way it does. “Overall, it has given me a more in-depth glance at what it’s like to not just be a student in Upper School or Middle School as I experienced, but know what our Early Childhood [and] Lower School philosophy is,” Graham says, adding, “I’ve definitely gotten a [deeper and more] global view of how our school is run.”
The student ambassadors are an integral part of the GFS community, and without them, the GFS environment and demographic would not be the same.
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