What’s the best dining hall? Where do students go when they’re sick? Where’s the best place to study? These are some of the questions parents have when their students are preparing for college.

During parent orientation, student ambassadors are ready and willing to answer these questions, escort parents around N.C. State and introduce them to where their students will be living, studying, working and playing for the next four years.

Ambassadors are students acting as representatives of the University during parent orientation.

According to Kim Kroll, assistant director of Parents and Families Services, over the past few years of orientation, there were more parents than students.

“An ambassador’s job is simply to orient parents, answer questions, give tours, serve on panels and just be a resource for parents,” Kroll said. “It’s an opportunity to be the first line of contact and represent State.”

Barbara Gilligan, a nurse who teaches health occupation at Athens Drive High School, has two children enrolled in NCSU. She said when she first went to orientation three years ago, the ambassadors were valuable resources.

“It is refreshing to see a young face ready to help,” Gilligan said. “Hospitality is so important, and it helps to get the perspective of the students.”

Kroll said there is a growing trend of offices on university campuses across the country specifically aimed at providing resources for parents. NCSU has a commitment to partnering with parents, she said.

“Parents are more active in this generation,” Kroll said. “When students have questions, they call their parents. We get tons of calls on the helpline from parents asking things like ÔMy son’s depressed. Where does he go?’ Orientation is here to help give tools to parents.”

Deepti Vanguri, a senior in business management, was an ambassador in the summer of 2004. She said at first she applied to be an ambassador because she needed something to do over the summer, and she wanted to meet people and learn about the University.

“As ambassadors, we were the resource guide for visiting parents who attended the orientations,” Vanguri said. “We led them to different sessions, ate lunch with them, answered questions and led them on tours of campus.”

According to Vanguri, a typical first day of orientation would begin early to set up. Ambassadors would then check in parents attending the orientation. Ambassadors would escort parents to their morning sessions, eat lunch with them and escort them to afternoon sessions.

The second day, Vanguri said, would include a tour in the morning, another session and lunch, followed by a panel of ambassadors available to answer any questions parents may have.

“A lot of our days were spent escorting parents to different parts of campus, to their sessions and also being their familiar face that they would see and count on during their orientation experience,” Vanguri said. “During sessions we would prepare for the next program, sit and listen and get to know our fellow ambassadors.”

One of the main jobs of an ambassador, Kroll said, is answering questions.

As a student, an ambassador has insight into the social and academic aspects of student life. This perspective, Gilligan said, is invaluable.

“A lot of questions were based on my experiences coming into college, like laptops versus desktops, living on campus versus off campus, what I’d been involved in, did I go home a lot and any advice that I wish I had gotten coming into the University,” Vanguri said.

The volume and diversity of questions requires ambassadors to have a good understanding of NCSU and campus life.

“I learned a lot about working with others,” Vanguri said. “And because we are trained to give tours, I was able to learn a lot of history and interesting facts about the University, like our original colors were blue and pink!”

Ambassadors work in a team of eight people, and, according to Kroll, it’s a good way to get to know each other as well as the University. Ambassadors are hired each summer to work for five weeks, with two orientation sessions each week. Anyone can apply, but Kroll said she is mainly looking for undergraduates who can give a better perspective of what incoming students can expect.

Kroll said when she hires an ambassador, she looks for a positive, happy-go-lucky person who can put a smile on his or her face even when he or she is tired and has been listening to the same presentation for weeks. An ambassador must have a good understanding of what it’s like to be a student and have a respect and love for the school, she said.

Gilligan said she has no complaints with the ambassador program.

“Our ambassadors were well-informed, well-trained and extremely polite,” she said. “The program is something that should be encouraged.”