mCgRAW-HILL EDUCATION
CENTRAL TEAM
Welcome to the 2016-2017 MHE Central Team Page
It is crazy to think that I have been a student ambassador for McGraw-Hill Education since my freshman year of college and now I am finishing my junior year. Being a student ambassador has been a central part of my time as a college student. Heck, I have been a student ambassador for almost as long as I have been in college! I have learned so much from this experience and I went from being nervous to speak in front of large audiences, to completely confident to give a presentation in front of +300 complete strangers in a lecture hall. I went from being less active in the program freshman year to being a student leader junior year that helps show new SA's how to get started! I want to share a key memory from each of my years as a student ambassador so far so you can see my growth and hopefully relate. Remember that the program is all about what you make of it and your opportunities are endless if you allow them to be. That is just one of the many life lessons I have learned from being a SA that I have applied to all aspects of my educational career and everyday life. Enjoy! Freshman Year (2014-2015)Oh freshman year... what a time! Fresh out of high school, I remember being worried about college. Especially since I knew I would have to attend community college for two years before transferring to a four-year institution. My community college, however, College of DuPage, was awesome! I went there on an academic scholarship, was in the honors program and ran cross country for the schools team. I made the most out of my situation and was sure to get as involved as possible. One of my involvements included applying to be a McGraw-Hill Education Student Ambassador after seeing a pop-up advertisement on my Connect assignment homepage for my speech class. "This seems like a really great opportunity!" I thought to myself, and in August of 2014, I applied to be a SA. By October/November, I landed an interview and sent my application video. I was so excited to start as a SA in the spring! Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to do any presentations that semester. I was brand new to the program and still unsure of how exactly to get involved. I was determined though! I reached out to my sales team regularly and let them know that I was ready to help them out. They did not have many things for me to do on my campus, so I patiently waited for the next opportunities to come. In the meantime, I made sure to fill out surveys (like the info in the above photo for my SA profile) and do any smaller tasks I was asked to do. Sophomore Year (2015-2016)Sophomore year was quite busy and exciting! A new sales representative started working in my area and was very excited to get started with using a student ambassador. He emailed at the end of the summer and we set up a time to meet on campus for lunch in the very beginning of sophomore year. We then discussed all of the ways that I could help out on campus. I couldn't wait to get started! After all my training was complete, I was on my way to doing several FDOC presentations on my own, helping with Lunch and Learns, and even traveling to the Chicago office to attend a meeting with the Chicago MHE team. It was amazing! I was tracking all of my activities, giving my input as a student, doing preventions, meeting new people and starting to build confidence in public speaking. To top it all of, I was named Student Ambassador of the Month in January 2016 for all of my hard work. Next, I was asked to attend a MHE Biology Majors conference in Austin, Texas to speak at a student panel in front of over a hundred professors from all over the country. One of the most memorable experiences was eating dinner with the president and CEO of McGraw-Hill, David Levin (see the selfie above!). It was an amazing opportunity to talk to him about how he has been helping transform MHE from a tradition textbook published to a learning science company that unlocks the potential of each learner. He was such an inspiration and it turns out that he has family in Lithuania and had just recently visited there (I was born in Lithuania!). It was great to hear him speak and to get to share my perspective of how MHE digital learning tools have helped me as a student. He gave me his business card and we added each other on LinkedIn- I would say that's pretty cool :) My sophomore year was a busy and exciting year that got me ready to transfer from community college and begin my journey as a SA at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Junior Year (2016-2017)Junior year, and my first year at the University of Illinois, was also my first year as a student leader for the ambassador program. With new responsibilities a student leader and with having to live on my own for the very first time in a brand new place- I was in for a lot of exciting change! Being student leader meant that I would not only have the responsibilities of a regular SA- presentations, trainings, communicating with my sales team, but I would also have to lead a team of 10-13 student ambassadors in their journey in the program. Talk about a lot of responsibility! After applying and getting the position as a student leader, I was also given the opportunity to travel to NYC to the MHE headquarters to meet Lindsay Ivy, the other student leaders and more MHE employees. This was my first time in New York and I loved it! It was an oddly warm weekend in November, which called for a lot of exploring after work in the office. It was such a great experience to meet other SA's in person and the rest of the team that makes the SA program possible. You guys are awesome and I am so grateful for what you do everyday. Above, you can see a picture of me and two other student leaders in Times Square, having a blast! I have stayed busy this year with new responsibilities as a student and as a student lead. I have had two different teams (one first semester and one second semester) and led over 10 orientations for new SA's. I have also lead a few live Study Smarter Sessions to help students get the most of SmartBook and Connect. Being at a larger university has also given me the opportunity to give presentations in front of +300 student lecture halls, which has really helped me get over any fear I might have had of public speaking. I am really excited for all the upcoming projects and final contests of the semester and I can't wait to see what senior year has in store!
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KotrynaKotryna has been a SA for MHE since January 2015. She is the Central Team Lead and loves helping other SA's make the most their experience with the program. Archives
April 2017
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