The Community Ambassadors Program is the first place students can go to find information about resources and communities on campus. Serving as an aggregator of information for all of the resource offices and learning communities Foothill College offers, the Ambassadors Program is the central frame by which students can find events, organizations to join, employment, volunteering opportunities, and even a group of friends.

Though Foothill hosts a great number of resource centers on campus, many students are not aware of services available to them or are weary about their eligibility. CAP student employee Negin Tavana explains that at Foothill, “We are all a huge community, and we are, in every sense of the word, a community of ambassadors. You get to communicate with a bunch of people and make friends with them while having something in common and volunteering your energy, help, and time to the college.”

The student-run program consists of three teams — Outreach, Mentorship, and Tour. Events. Recruitment and volunteering are handled by the Outreach Team, while the Mentorship Team pairs incoming students with students who have attended Foothill for a year or more to help them navigate their college experience. Mentors host picnics, game nights, pool parties, and karaoke events to provide a space for students to interact with their community. The Tour Team offer tours of campus for new students and high school prospectives.  Employees also travel to middle schools and high schools across the Bay Area to encourage teenagers to consider investing in a college career. Juan Ramirez has been involved in CAP since 2011 and reflects that “programs like the Math Bridge and presentations in high school help high school students sign up for college. It helps the new students already know people on campus — the tour guides. They then become the next leaders and it’s a cycle and contagious.”

CAP also offers informational workshops partnered with academic departments and campus organizations like the Honors Institute, Admissions Office, Associated Students of Foothill College, and Veterans Resource Center to help students learn about programs the college offers and how to get involved. Students can learn about scholarships, classes, and free services available to them. There are at least 20 workshops hosted at the office a year and several other social events including Halloween activities in Fall Quarter and a Vintage Car Show in Spring. The program also connects volunteers to clubs and organizations that host events.

Students can join CAP as volunteers or formal employees and train to help direct interested parties to departments and resource centers that would benefit them. Volunteers can plan their own schedule and earn a CAP Volunteer Certificate that can be listed on transfer applications. After volunteering for some time, Ambassadors say that their experiences at Foothill have been greatly impacted by joining the program. For Tavana, “One of the ways it helped me personally in my education was that I got to know a lot of things and people to have contact with, including staff. One-on-one, they know me by first name, and it really helps me around campus.”

By offering information about the services students can use when struggling, hoping to find community, or interested in taking on a more active-role on campus, Community Ambassadors connects curious students to answers through peer-to-peer support. They welcome students to join their weekly mailing lists to receive updates about events and workshops. They also encourage anyone to come by the office to learn more about the opportunities Foothill College offers or to seek support about a class or hardship they are experiencing.

To register as a volunteer, students should come to the CAP office to fill out an online form. They will then have to go to the campus police station to get their fingerprints taken in order to join the program. After this is processed, students will receive a t-shirt, badge, and new-found appreciation for the campus.

The CAP is open on Mondays and Tuesdays, 8:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m., Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., and Fridays, 8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. They can be found in the Campus Center, Lower Level 2100 Room 2150.

Contact them at [email protected].