Global Ambassadors Program Leadership 2020-2021

Our mission: The Global Ambassadors Program was created alongside the International Student Program to welcome foreign exchange students to CCS and the Chattanooga community. The core mission of the Program is to spread cultural awareness and appreciation within the student body and to embrace both local and global diversity.

We asked each leader to share their favorite aspect of the program, as well as a memorable moment from past years of events and experiences. Get to know each one of them below!

President - Lyndsey Rice

Grade: 12th

Years in program: 3 years

Why you joined: It looked like a great way to meet new people and learn about other cultures through fun experiences and events.

Favorite part of GAP: Having the opportunity to create friendships with people who live around the world. I love getting to learn about other cultures and countries by having conversations with people who live there- it's a very unique experience!

Memorable Moment: I remember walking into my first GAP meeting as an ambassador sophomore year knowing absolutely nobody, yet leaving with new friends from China, Korea, and Italy!

Vice President - Candace Brown

Grade: 11th

Years in program: 1 year

Why you joined: My family has hosted people from around the world since growing up, so I have had a heart for International Students.

Favorite part of GAP: The people! There is so much joy and heart put into the program by so many people. I also love helping plan and put on the events!

Memorable Moment: The pumpkin carving last year- it was so fun to get to know different International Students and see all the creative pumpkins!

Administrator - David O'Neill

Grade: 11th

Years in program: 2 years

Why you joined: I joined because I felt like it was what I was good at and what I was called to do.

Favorite part of GAP: How we look at diversity with culture through Christian eyes.

Memorable Moment: the Moon Festival- just how fun it was and the general atmosphere of joy.

Officers

Anna Jipping

Grade: 11th

Years in program: 2 years

Why you joined: I wanted to be able to connect with the International Students and be involved in making their experience at CCS as wonderful as possible. I also wanted to take the opportunity to learn about other cultures and traditions of the people who I walk by in the hallway every day.

Favorite part of GAP: One part of the program that I love is the way we have a few events every year that all the students are invited to. They get a chance to experience the cultures of their classmates and learn something new.

Memorable Moment: My favorite memory from this group was carving pumpkins freshman year. This was my first event as a Global Ambassador and it was so much fun. I got to know so many new people and create great memories.

Harris Armstrong

Grade: 11th

Years in program:

Why you joined:

Favorite part of GAP:

Memorable Moment:

Graham Cook

Grade: 12th

Years in program: 2 years

Why you joined: I joined global ambassadors because it looked like something I would enjoy being a part of. There was a big opportunity to increase cultural awareness which is something I am passionate about.

Favorite part of GAP: My most favorite part of the program are the events we host for different international events. Ms. Hoffman is really good at organizing events that cater to everyone and we get to learn lots of rich cultural history while eating good food.

Memorable Moment: One memorable moment I had in the program was the Halloween party we had last year. Loc and I carved a pumpkin and we couldn’t stop laughing the entire time because it looked so bad. Being a global ambassador helped me to make good friends with other ambassadors and the international students and is a great experience that I would recommend for anyone to try.

Kappy Perry

Grade:

Years in program:

Why you joined:

Favorite part of GAP:

Memorable Moment:

Jessie Honeycutt

Grade: 1oth

Years in program: 2 years

Why you joined: I joined because I wanted to get to know the international kids and learn more about other cultures.

Favorite part of GAP: I've really enjoyed the community in this program. Everyone feels welcomed and included.

Memorable Moment: One of my most memorable moments was when every group had to make a song about their group and perform in in front of the other groups. This allowed us to be silly and creative.

Emma Pack

Grade: 10th

Years in program: 1 year

Why you joined: I joined because I have always been in love with learning about other cultures and the differences between my culture and others. 

Favorite part of GAP: My favorite aspect of the program is its ability to reach out to students who come from somewhere else who are used to living completely different lives than ours, allowing us to learn more and more about others. I love that I can become friends with others who are different than me and allow me to expand my knowledge of culture and increase empathy and patience.

Memorable Moment: . I have many favorite memorable moments when it comes to the global ambassador's program most of them coming from school dances, whether that be getting ready with some international students beforehand, going to eat dinner with them, or just enjoying the music and dancing with each other. Some of my favorite events were the Mid-Autumn festival, getting to try mooncakes and other authentic Chinese dishes that Mrs. Sellers made for the events, the pumpkin carving event, ice-skating, although failing miserably, and pretty much every event we've had. Every bit of the GAP has become a wonderful memory. 

Faculty Sponsor - Ms. Hoffman

Why you got involved: Basically, since I started working at this school teaching Spanish, my passion has been cultural awareness. Everything I’ve done in my 20 years here has been to promote cultural awareness, and I did a summer program where I brought students from Mexico to CCS to live with a CCS family for a few weeks. The families and students really enjoyed it, so I let Mr. Dirkse know that if he wanted to do more formal things with international students I would lead it. Later, as I was forming the program, I realized that I didn’t want the students to be here unattended to, on an island, so I knew that we needed to have a domestic program to welcome them. Plus I wanted a way for the American students to have an experience with them, too.

Favorite part of GAP: The students are really what makes me smile, and it makes me so happy is seeing the friendships that have developed between different cultures. That warms my heart and is very fulfilling because that has always been my passion.

Memorable Moment: Watching an International Student and Global Ambassador student’s friendship that resulted in the International Student’s coming to Christ.

Thanks for taking the time to get to know us- and we hope to see you at upcoming events. Follow us on Instagram, and don't hesitate to reach out!

- The Global Ambassadors Program Leadership Team 2020-2021