The Google Student Ambassador Program, launched in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2011, provides an opportunity for students to act as connectors between their campus and Google. This year, two Computer Science majors, Nathan Fletcher ’14 and Emmanuel Odoi ’13 were chosen to be part of the 2012/2013 Google Student Ambassador team.
The two students, as Google Student Ambassadors, will act as campus contacts for Google teams, and plan and host fun events for students on campus. The Ambassadors will also get hands-on learning about Google products and programmes, have the opportunity to improve their leadership and communication skills, and be a part of a network of Google Ambassadors across Africa.
“I believe that the Google Student Ambassador program would open up great opportunities for me,” said Nathan. “I know that I will learn a lot from it, which would really help me even outside this program.”
This year, Nathan and Emmanuel joined other Ambassadors from over 100 universities at a 3-day Google Student Ambassador summit in Kenya, where they received comprehensive training to prepare them for their new roles.
“Google Student Ambassadors are selected based on their applications,” said Joe Mucheru, Kenya’s Google Country Manager. “They help us understand their university’s culture and improve how Google interacts with them (the universities).”
The summit brought together over 170 students from 12 countries, including Angola, Cameroon, Cote d'ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda.
“It was the first time I had ever been in such a strong culturally diverse environment,” Emmanuel said. “It was a profound experience. Being Google Ambassadors at Ashesi is a role we are really excited about!”