inside Rhodes

One of the best parts of my job here at Rhodes is serving alongside Timothy Gibson as one of the advisers to the Rhodes College Diplomats. The Diplomats are a group of 50 student volunteers who serve as the “face of the College” in a variety of capacities. Primarily, they are our wonderfully friendly tour guides. Their other responsibilities include serving as overnight hosts for prospective students, transporting visitors to and from the airport, participating in online chats for prospective students, serving as community resources, speaking as panelists for Open House Programs, and being student representatives to Rhodes Alumni, donors, and community organizations.

The Diplomats are led by four student leaders who serve on the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee is responsible for selecting the members, training the membership, planning all meetings, socials, additional training and serving as the compass for the organization’s goals and visions. I love the mission of the Diplomats; here it is: The Rhodes College Diplomats are among our best and brightest students and function as the College’s representatives. The purpose of the Rhodes College Diplomats is to serve the institution and the student body by building community-conscious servants and leaders in its membership, entrusting them with the responsibility of successfully recruiting qualified students and building positive rapport among alumni, students and guests.

So, as you can see, this is quite the responsibility. We will be selecting new members for the 2008-2009 school year at the end of this month. It will be an intense process of reviewing applications, recommendations, and interviewing the candidates. As hard as it is to pick from a competitive applicant pool, we always end up with great new Diplomats. The Diplomat shirt is a prized possession to these members and often reminds our visitors of Harry Potter tour guides.

On a personal note, because these 50 students are so friendly and wonderful, it has been my pleasure to get to know them and encourage them in all areas of there lives. My first floor office has a window that I call my “drive through” because often students will pop their heads in just to say hi. Most days, Diplomats drop by just to tell me about their job searches, grad school plans, or formals. Because I have so much contact with current students, I feel that I can better speak to prospective students about what our students are like! And the answer is AWESOME!