Photo courtesy of Office of Admissions

Two Different Organizations, Two Different Purposes

BY HAILEY BULLIS, ASSISTANT CULTURE EDITOR

Most Mason students know who the Mason Ambassadors and Patriot Leaders are, through the highlighter shirts and khakis respectively, the Ambassadors and Patriot Leaders are easy to pick out of the crowd.

These students are among the first faces every Mason student sees before and after deciding to enroll at Mason. But while the two groups are the first faces, the organizations are geared toward two different groups of students. They also have a different set of responsibilities and standards to follow.

Mason Ambassadors

Madi Wiernusz, president of Mason Ambassadors said, “We are more geared toward giving tours to prospective students, so these are students that are looking into coming to Mason. They’re not quite sure if they want to come here yet and so our job is to really ‘wow’ them with the school and get them to put down their deposit and come to Mason.”

The Ambassadors’s main job is to give these prospective students a “baseline view” of Mason during tours, according to Wiernusz. Each Ambassador is required to give eight tours during their first year, with the number of tours required decreasing every year they are an Ambassador. The tours can take anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half. Beyond tours, Ambassadors go to the fall and spring premieres, the Honors College Event and it is recommend that they work during spotlight days.

As far as expectations go for Ambassadors, school spirit is a big part of the job description. “We expect them to have school spirit, because that’s a big part of the job. Like you are an advocate for the school. You are an advocate for Mason,” said Wiernusz.

Patriot Leaders

Meanwhile, the Patriot Leaders welcome students that are officially enrolled at Mason. “Patriot Leaders are working orientations. They are getting students ready to be at Mason,” said junior Joy Ford, a Patriot Leader.

Patriot Leader attend all programmatic initiatives including the summer and winter orientations, Family Weekend, move-in, Preamble and welcome2mason. Patriot Leader’s also have to be currently enrolled at Mason and stay enrolled for the entirety of the year.

The majority of events Patriot Leaders have to work occur during the summer. During these events, free housing is provided to Patriot Leaders to stay on campus in between events and orientations.

However, before orientations and the other events begin, Patriot Leaders have to attend training. Training to become a Patriot Leader starts two weeks after the final exam period to the the end of July. Patriot Leaders are only required to stay in the dorms the night before and after each orientation.

Perhaps one of the bigger differences between Mason Ambassadors and Patriot Leaders is that the Patriot Leaders are paid.

This summer, Patriot Leader’s were paid $3400 before taxes according to Ford. During the school year, Patriot Leaders are paid a total of  $750.

Patriot Leader’s have to work a total of 15 hours during Family Weekend, 10 hours during Siblings Weekend and Kids Weekend, and serve a total 35 hours during the month of Aug.

While Patriot Leaders and Mason Ambassadors work some of  the same events, their purpose in the Mason admissions process couldn’t be more different.