The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Joshua F. during the 2009-2010 League.
Mission: Tactics - Final Report
There are four ways I'd sum up Ambassador League, they are as follows: Challenging, rewarding, difficult, and worth the effort. Now anyone who's interested in "doing" Ambassador League please take note right now. Half of my summation of the program had to do with how hard it was. Ambassador League can be quite difficult at times, and I don't want you to think the road is easy.
The challenging part isn't just the requirements themselves, (though some are taxing, time consuming, and difficult) it's the fact that there's so much to do, and you can't put your life on hold to do them. The true challenge is that there is no weak link in the chain of assignments. You can't skip past requirements or do one big thing that suddenly makes the entire mission easy. However, the mission is definitely possible to complete.
My best advice to anyone looking to complete Mission: Possible (a.k.a. Ambassador League) is to have a plan. You don't need to have one as elaborate as Hannibal (the real one, or the one from the A-Team). It could be as simple as which assignments you want to complete each month, plotted out to completion. Or it could be as detailed as a calendar that includes when you'll write what report, read what specific book, and the dates and times of the meetings, trials, and legislative sessions you'll have to attend. The bottom line is, have a plan, a good one. A plan that gives you just enough freedom and flexibility to still get everything accomplished even if unexpected challenges pop up, because they will. Life is funny that way, it seems to happen whether you like it or not, for as long as you live.
Though challenging, Ambassador League was also rewarding. Through the course of completing assignments, I have met a candidate for State Representative and another for State Senator. I have also interviewed the mayor of the city I live in and the city administrator, both of whom now know me by name. I have had many phenomenal experiences, and have learned a lot about civic responsibility, and staying active in my community.
I have grown as a person throughout this experience. I have slowly learned how to meet the goals I've placed before myself, with the knowledge that in the end, the accomplishment will be something to be proud of. I have learned to motivate myself where others cannot. I have learned the value of planning, and refined my blessing/curse of working well under deadlines.
Each task was difficult, and many had their own unique set of challenges. Sometimes it was the assignment itself, other times it was trying to stretch an experience into a one page report. But with each task, I became more ready to face the ones like it. With my interviews I learned to take more notes, and depend less and less on the voice recorder I brought with me. With each book I read, I learned the importance of formulating my report as I read, rather than waiting to do it all at the end. And with the letters to the editor, I learned that politics isn't the only news worth commenting on.
I've been planning to do Ambassador League for quite some time now. Both of my older sisters completed it (they completed Special Agent in fact). As a homeschooler, the program also counted as a year-long civics course for me (seeing as that's what it is.) My first year of SSI, I considered participating in the program. However, I got a time consuming job that I had to get used to, and I decided that it wasn't yet time for me to tackle the program. The next year though, I half-heartedly decided I would give it a go. During that first attempt, I was far too busy and disorganized to really complete the program. One thing added to the weight of the other, and Ambassador League fell through the cracks.
Sometime mid-winter, I realized that my sophomore year was fading fast. Having watched three siblings go through their junior and senior years in school, I knew that I would need a renewed focus on grades and standardized tests, and I didn't see a way to fit Ambassador League into all of that studying. On January 15th (fairly late in the game) I sent an e-mail to the person I was hoping would agree to be my mentor. With a commitment to achieve Special Agent status, and no idea of the scholarship that came with it, I took the first steps to completing the program.
I met with my mentor, local businessman and philanthropist Mr. Scott Griffin, on February 3rd of 2010. It was the first of six mentor meetings that I had to complete. That night I sent in my first report. With high hopes of completing far earlier than the deadline, I set off on a sample route to Special Agent mapped out by the Ambassador League staff. I had brought the written map of sorts in as a sample of what it would take for me to complete Ambassador League.
Though the sample route wasn't quite my style of organization (it required me to do several different types of thing a month) I nervously agreed to my mentor's suggestion that we use this "great" pre-made guide. As a result, I felt even more behind than I already was. I was not able to complete the required two book reports in a month's time (since the guide began in January) and I had scheduling conflicts when it came to attending the recommended local meeting. (I encourage those attempting Ambassador League to use a plan that works for them). I met with Mr. Griffin a month later, but I hadn't made much progress. Mr. Griffin was beginning to realize how hard this mentor business was going to be.
At some point and timed I suggested a variation to the route planned. It was a route which falsely assumed that the research papers were going to be a cinch. Yet, it was a route more suited to my style of planning (one type of assignment at a time). But I still failed to take "life" into consideration.
Realizing that I was behind on my own suggested shortcut, I began to panic, as my next meeting was approaching. Here's what my mentor had to say at the next month's meeting: "Josh is behind! He needs to do his reading & reports & interviews. "Discipline!" And his comments were all too true. Looking back I'm glad I didn't read the comment earlier (Mr. Griffin held onto the mentor meeting forms), I think I would have panicked for sure.
The rest of my journey is best summed up with Mr. Griffin's mentor comments for the months that followed. June 30th -"He's making a comeback! Much progress since the last meeting, but he really needs to finish strong to make it." July 21st- "Josh has really caught up…" August 26th "We discussed each requirement, Josh's experience during the process, what he learned about not procrastinating, pacing yourself, working towards deadlines, (and) prioritizing. It's exciting to see all that Josh has done in order to become Special Agent!"
And now here I am, at the close of the program, the end of this eight month journey. I procrastinated on days that I was free, and tried to fit reports into days I was busy. I set up meetings that I later had to cancel, and made phone calls where I sounded like the nervous kid that I was. I volunteered a total of thirty hours for a political campaign and non-profit and social action organizations. I have grown personally, and learned many life lessons. And I now look back, grateful to have completed a program as good as Ambassador League.
