¡Hola!

Namaste.

Ciao!

These greetings are a few possibilities that welcome parents to student-led magnet tours, which are just one of the responsibilities of magnet ambassadors.

Magnet ambassadors, or magnet leaders, are students handpicked by teachers to represent the language class they take. Once students put their name in to apply, teachers make their decision with certain requirements in mind: enrollment in the magnet program, good academic standing, strong communication skills, a positive attitude and reliability.

Thirteen ambassadors were chosen for the 2023-24 school year: Kihea Adams-Wilson, Abigail Alvarez-Moreno, Lizette Lara, Sanya Misra, Khang Nguyen, Quang Nhu Nguyen, Autry Oran, Selim Romaisa, Sara Rozen, Eliza Teo, Sammy Vu, Angie Velis and Mia Zilberman.

Their main job, according to magnet coordinator Yabei Yin, is to “promote culture and language awareness.”
“It is important for everyone here at Bellaire to be culturally responsive,” Yin said. “Our student population is very diverse. Everyone is responsible to learn about different cultures and different perspectives.”
One way to spread these different cultures is through the morning announcements. Each student is expected to make at least one announcement regarding their language per semester to keep the student body informed and aware of different cultures.
For junior Sanya Misra, the Hindi ambassador, the morning announcements are exciting because she’s never had the chance to announce until now.
“I will be talking on the announcements soon about Diwali and Navratri,” Misra said. “There’s a lot of different festivals and holidays that we have that not many people might know about, so I’m very happy to represent it and spread awareness.”

Sophomore Eliza Teo, the Mandarin Chinese ambassador, also felt the announcements were a good opportunity.
“So far, I [have] already made an announcement, [and] I feel like that was a really cool thing,” Teo said. “I didn’t know Mr. Niggli’s office existed, and I didn’t know that was the place where the announcements were made.”

However appealing the announcement privilege is, it isn’t the only leadership opportunity of the magnet ambassador position. Another duty is to lead magnet tours.

The goal of magnet tours is to give prospective magnet students and their parents the ability to see the campus and obtain details about the program from magnet ambassadors, who have experienced the program firsthand. They guide the visitors around the campus, answering any questions the families may have.

“It’s fun,” Misra said. “It’s a new thing, and it’s very professional sounding, too. It also gives me a chance to talk in front of a lot of people to better my communication.”

Although improving public speaking skills was a factor for Teo when applying to be a magnet ambassador, her hope to become more involved in the school also played a role.

“My school life last year as a freshman wasn’t that full of clubs or anything,” Teo said. “I decided to apply because it seemed like a really fun opportunity to engage in a lot of things.”

One of Misra and Teo’s most important motivators for applying includes the love they have for their language and their wish for more diverse representation throughout the school.

“There’s a lot of people in this world, and we’re all different,” Teo said. “It’s important to acknowledge our differences and also be more interested and engaged in our world and society. Instead of just staying in American culture, we should venture out and seek new things.”