“I love Ole Miss, and I thought that, by serving as an ambassador, I would be able to show other people why and help them come to love it too.”<\/p>\n
Waltman, a rising sophomore English and business marketing major in the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, recently was named the 2009-10 “Ambassador of the Year.” Jody Lowe, associate director of enrollment services and ambassador adviser, said Waltman’s service to the university has been outstanding.<\/p>\n
“Jess has been a wonderful addition to our organization,” Lowe said. “He is an ambassador for our university in the truest sense. He is very outgoing, friendly and passionate about Ole Miss. Jess has given dozens of campus tours this year, he has written many letters and postcards to prospective students and he is always available when our office needs him.”<\/p>\n
The Ole Miss Ambassadors program is a volunteer student organization that serves to assist the Office of Enrollment Services in recruiting high school and community college students to the university. Ambassadors provide campus tours, write letters to prospective students and participate in telephone campaigns, and attend various recruitment events with enrollment services staff.<\/p>\n
“On campus tours, we tell them where the buildings are, but it’s more than that,” Waltman said. “We show them what it’s like to be an Ole Miss student, and I think that connection is very important as far as getting students to come to Ole Miss.”<\/p>\n
Ambassadors achieve minimum point requirements in the areas of campus tours, special events and correspondence.<\/p>\n
“Jess was named ‘Ambassador of the Year’ because he achieved the highest-point totals in all categories,” Lowe said. “He is truly an outstanding leader in our organization.”<\/p>\n
Waltman found out that he was named the top ambassador at a banquet at the end of the semester.<\/p>\n
“It was a great honor, I was speechless,” Waltman said. “They have a lot of great ambassadors, and I was surprised.”
Waltman said that, besides enjoying the work he did as an ambassador, he also benefitted in other ways.<\/p>\n
“I have learned a lot because I’ve gotten to meet people that I would have never have had the chance to meet otherwise,” he said. “That’s the most educational part of it.”<\/p>\n
Waltman is slated to complete his undergraduate degree in May 2013. He is a member of Alpha Lambda Delta, a national honor society for first-year students. His parents are Walt and Cheryl Waltman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OXFORD, Miss. – As an Ole Miss Ambassador, Gerald Jess Waltman of Quitman has eagerly expressed his adoration for the University of Mississippi to many potential students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[222],"tags":[345],"yoast_head":"\n