Last Saturday, the 2013 K-State Student Ambassadors were announced at halftime of K-State’s homecoming victory over Texas Tech. Jordan Priddle, junior in family studies and human services, and Tyler Johnson, junior in human resource management and marketing, were chosen to represent K-State’s student body to prospective students and alumni at events throughout the year. 

“Having two university ambassadors rather than a Homecoming King and Queen really helps us define our experience throughout the year,” said Pat Bosco, vice president for student life at K-State. “The best communicators of the K-State experience are current students.”

Priddle and Johnson will serve until their successors are chosen during next year’s homecoming elections.

“Basically, we’ll be traveling across Kansas attending events and interacting with alumni and students,” Johnson said. “I’m really excited to have the opportunity to share my K-State story and help bring that feeling we have on campus to potential students.”

The ambassadors will be present at Just for Juniors recruitment events, alumni and student events in cities throughout Kansas, meetings of the Student Alumni Association and various ceremonies and banquets. At these events, the pair will deliver presentations about day-to-day student life on campus.

The ambassadors were selected through a process that included a written application and interviews in front of a student panel and a faculty panel, at which point the field was narrowed to three male and three female finalists who were voted on by students.

Priddle and Johnson take over for seniors Phillicia Thomas and Andrew Waldman, who oversaw a year in which K-State set enrollment records across several categories, including the largest freshman class in university history at over 3,800 students.

“I think K-State is going to thrive,” Priddle said.

She explained that the ambassadors’ sole focus isn’t necessarily on recruiting large numbers of students.

“We’re all looking towards better and better, and I don’t think numbers will always reflect that,” she said.

Priddle added that her priority is to represent K-State accurately and give prospective students a feel for how they fit into the picture in Manhattan, while Johnson said he wanted to communicate the positive aspects of K-State student life.

“We just want to continue what we’ve got going on, because K-State is incredible,” Johnson said. “The more people we’ve got wearing purple, the more people that are excited about K-State, the better.”

According to Bosco, K-State relies heavily on word of mouth to attract new students and maintain relationships with alumni, and he said that no one can accomplish that better than a satisfied student. 

“They’re well-trained, have a great deal of passion and the students voted on them,” Bosco said. “It doesn’t get much better than that.”