Around 80 prospective parents and students visited Bellaire to participate in a tour and learn about Magnet Programs in the auditorium on Oct. 9.

Magnet Coordinator Yabei Yin uses the tours as a way to introduce Bellaire to interested families.

“Magnet tours have [a] long history at Bellaire,” Yin said. “They started to recruit parents from all over HISD and [give] a chance to showcase our school, our different programs, and let the new parents and students come and take a look to see what our high school life would be like at Bellaire.”

Yin started incorporating Magnet Ambassadors more in the tour than in previous years to provide different perspectives of Bellaire. President Eliza Teo and Vice President Quang Nguyen helped go through the presentation given to the audience at the beginning of tours.

“The tours are one of the most important parts of the Magnet Program,” Nguyen said. “They really help parents understand more about our school, our students and our culture. Talking to parents can be a little hard at first, but once you get used to it, it actually becomes fun.”

Seventeen Magnet Ambassadors representing Bellaire’s nine language Magnet Programs gave tours to the families. Senior Akshatha Perumal became a French Magnet Ambassador this year because she wanted to represent Bellaire’s student body.

“I feel very involved in the school as a whole, and I feel very proud of our school’s diversity,” Perumal said. “I’m glad that I get to show off our school’s unique characteristics, like [our] diverse student body and how we have nine languages. I feel like that’s something really interesting about Bellaire and being a Magnet Ambassador.”

For Perumal, the tours are very important in helping a family choose where they want to go for high school.

“I think the significance of the Magnet Ambassador Program itself is displaying how great Bellaire is at fostering culture and diversity,” Perumal said. “I feel like it’s a great way to learn more about the school itself and what kind of role it plays in the student’s life. High school is a very important place to learn and grow, so these magnet tours can show off Bellaire as a great place for a student to grow and learn.”

To keep up with the Magnet Ambassadors and the Magnet Program, follow @bhsmagnetambassadors on Instagram.