(This article first appeared in the print edition published Feb. 28)
Olivia Staples and Landon Hurtte are two of about 30 Henderson County High School students whose job is to show off the school to community members.
In February, these two Colonel Ambassadors led a tour of the high school for the Hendersonian.
Staples, Hurtte and other ambassadors, however, do more than give tours. They also assist incoming freshmen during their orientation and represent the school at various public functions, such as Rotary or Lions club meetings.
To become a Colonel Ambassador, students must apply at the beginning of their junior year.Those chosen to continue spend the rest of the year training under the leadership of Conner Mattingly, an assistant principal, and Amy Kellen, an instructional coach.
Coincidentally, Mattingly was in the first cohort of Colonel Ambassadors, which was founded in 2010, Kellen said.
Kellen said the group got started because misinformation about the high school was being posted by outside sources on Facebook and a goal of the ambassadors then was to show what’s truly going on inside the high school.
Hurtte said he first encountered the ambassadors when he was shown around on a tour of the high school before he had started classes. It was during Covid-19 pandemic and he was a part of a small group being led by an ambassador. He was nervous, but the tour made him feel more comfortable about starting high school.
“I still remember it,” he said, adding since that experience he always wanted to be an ambassador later.
Staples echoes some of those sentiments, saying by being an ambassador she can meet people in the community while also helping younger students adjust to the high school.
Hurtte said after he graduates he’s going to the University of Kentucky to pursue a degree in business management. Staples said she’s still deciding where she’ll go to college next year. She wants to study financial management.
To set up a tour with the Colonel Ambassadors, call the high school at 270-831-8800.