Senior Park Ambassador Santeyne Thornton said he recalls the process behind deciding to sign-up for the position of Park ambassador.

“There was a recruiting process we had to go through (to become a Park ambassador)  and one of the directors came from College Possible last year. She spoke with the class and I decided it would be something for me,” Thornton said.

According to Thornton, Park ambassadors attend different events around the state to talk about Park.

“We (Park ambassadors)  promote St. Louis Park by going to different parades, coronations and doing different volunteer and community service,” Thornton said.

Karen Atkinson, a member of a Park organization called Children First, said the Park  ambassadors are passionate about their work and she’s proud of what they have accomplished.

“(The Park ambassadors are) doing a lot for our community, they’re good representatives. I spoke to all of them over the winter and I was impressed with how empowered they are in the meeting full of adults,” Atkinson said.

Thornton said being an ambassador has helped him in many aspects of his life and has assisted him in communicating with others.

“I believe (being a Park ambassadors is)  important because it really helps you with speaking in front of a crowd, but also speaking with people you’ve never met before,” Thornton said. “I’ve definitely learned to be more confident, not only in speaking, but also going in front of crowds and meeting new people.”

According to Thornton, the ambassadors work in bettering their community, not just their school community.

“I work closer with the city (Park), we usually help them out with different volunteer events. We helped them with the Special Olympics when they were here,” Thornton said. “We also put (together) our own service projects, like we helped out with GiGi’s Playhouse, we helped out with Towerlight.”

Atkinson said Park ambassadors have done projects that they organize themselves to preset in our community and all over Minnesota.

“(The Park ambassadors are) great ambassadors for our community, they do a lot in (Park), they do a lot of service projects,” Atkinson said. “Each of them spear head their own project and then they also represent us outside of our community.”

Thornton said his position of Park ambassador has improved his school life through doing more projects in the Park community.

“(Being a Park ambassador is) also helping me out in my schoolwork (because) we work in groups for projects and we’re creating our own service project, which really helps my community service class,” Thornton said.