Executive Cardinal Ambassadors Andrew Hong, Susanna Kramer and Emilia Cafiso have set out to re-envision peer education to better transition freshmen into high school. This year, Freshman Leadership and Inquiry (FLI) classes have a new addition to their curriculum: monthly anti-bullying presentations created and taught by fellow students.
Cardinal Ambassadors are sophomores, juniors and seniors who volunteer their time to ensure freshmen feel comfortable, supported and connected at events like Back to School Night, Eighth Grade Visit Day and on the first day of school.
“In your freshman year of high school, you don’t know anyone. You’re here to make friends, so we’re trying to improve the process by making sure freshmen can talk to people,” said Hong.
One of the ways Cardinal Ambassadors are supporting freshmen is through monthly FLI class presentations.
“The FLI class presentations were a thing that happened in the past, but haven’t been a thing for a while now. We’re trying to bring them back in a way that can be more productive and impactful,” said Hong.
The result is a series of focused lessons that are centered around relevant school events, club activities and current news. The first batch of these lessons were created together with senior Chase Allbritton, the Associated Student Body (ASB) Director of Wellness.
“The focus of the October presentation was microaggressions, mental health and consent around ‘Halloweekend’ and the holidays,” said Allbritton.
Cardinal Ambassadors are continuously working to expand the range of lessons in collaboration with other clubs and organizations in order to spread awareness of mental health, social justice and other topics key to students.
Hong explains that the ultimate goal of these lessons is to create engaging activities that build community among students, and ensure that freshmen have the resources and skills they need to counter and prevent discrimination.
“We just really want to make sure that the freshman class is prepared to interact with the world that is high school when they’re not so sheltered anymore,” said Hong.
