With school disrupted by COVID-19, all clubs and extracurriculars have had to find new ways to conduct their activities. This includes the City High Ambassadors who have been working on making videos for the student body.

“I personally think that [these videos] could be really helpful, especially for new students,” Julia Weiner ‘21, a City High ambassador, said. “The videos are basically substitutes for the events that we normally would have had in person.”

The videos include content about stress management, time management, technology help, and how to get involved at school. The ambassadors have also made a virtual building tour video.

“Sometimes, information coming from a peer is better received, and coming from someone who has recently gone through the same thing, or is currently, is even better yet. It’s more relatable,” Renee Tonning, the sponsor of the ambassadors club, said. “We hope students will watch the videos, get good, reliable information, and reach out if they need to.”

These videos replace the work that the ambassador club would do in person. In past years, ambassadors have led assemblies to engage with students and meet one-on-one with rising freshmen to help them transition to high school.

“I feel that the videos are important for both the ambassadors and the other students. The videos allow [the ambassadors] to still work on something and make a contribution,” Weiner said. “For the other students, they also provide very helpful information about the building, Chromebooks, and other topics to help get through this strange year.”

The club has had to do a lot of things differently this year because one of their main jobs is to welcome visitors to City High, but because of COVID-19 there haven’t been large events.

“Because of the pandemic and social distancing, none of those things have been happening, leaving the Ambassadors a little adrift. Ambassadors are natural leaders who are proud of City High and have worked hard to qualify for their membership and the honor of wearing the Red Coat. We’ve had to think a bit outside the box for ways to share knowledge with others,” Tonning said.