Junior Ambassador Interviews for BC Atlanta: February 25, 2012

Today, we had an amazing turnout of alumni that gave input to the JA interviews and I'm extremely proud of my Bridge Club for making it easier for me to make a decision during the selection process. The interviews were held at the traditional place: Seigakuin Atlanta International School with their great facility. It certainly brought back memories from many of the BC members who were selected and interviewed at the same location. So, thank you previous chaperones: Julia Kuiper and Jennifer Laub, our liaison officers: Yoshi Domoto, Maki Murahashi, Kaori Igeta-McEwen, our interviewers: Kara Keene, Sean Corrigan, Bob Johnson, Karen Loch, our volunteers: Zuri, James, Lauren, our alumni that came to participate during the games to accompany the JA finalists: Lindsy Davis, Artur Tarassenka, Kristie Liao, Emma Rowe, Myles Johnson, Clay Eshleman, Kyle Davie, Sebastian Gomez, Ansley McCoy, and as always, all the parents who were there to answer questions and give support.

.Who can forget the delicious refreshments? 

Alumni Introductions

JA Finalists

From left to right: Maki, Yoshi, Bob, Kaori, and Karen

 Before the interview, we had our monthly meeting and we discussed the executive board applications, which are now extended and due by the next meeting, March 31st. We also talked about voting on the logo designs. My close friend, Leigh O'Farrell (who also created the "Everyday Ambassador" logo) created 6 logos, which were voted on and hopefully, the surprise will come out next month! I would like to personally thank her in the blog for accompanying me and creating the awesome BC ATL designs. 

From left to right: Me and Leigh

Our future logo is in one of these designs! 

Discussions and preparing activities for the candidates

While I was interviewing the female finalists along with Bob and Karen, the other BC members, parents, and volunteers were organizing games so that the kids would warm up with each other. This would give them an opportunity to see if the finalists were cooperative with the other children as well as show their personalities. I want to thank Yoshi for giving me the experience to be the interviewer because looking at it from the other side makes me understand the candidates more and it gives me more of an insight on how the interview process is. 

JA Finalists with Julia 

JA Finalists with Lauren 

Obstacle Course Time! 

Everyone in Red Light, Green Light Game!

Making Oragami Cranes! 

All in all, the finalists were extremely difficult to choose from and many were multi-cultural. There were backgrounds from South African, Bulgarian, Indian, Russian, French, and Chinese. What a mixture! When I sat in the interviews, every candidate was a bright one, but it all made a difference when we got together as a Bridge Club to make the final decisions. My BC saw things that I wasn't able to see during the group activities and I'm extremely proud of them to help decide the JA selection progress. 

According to Yoshi, we've had the largest applicant pool of JAs this year and we've had the most alumni return to do the JA selection process as well. Having the momentum and the consensus of having everyone agree was spectacular and I couldn't ask for anything more, other then for this to continue. 

Discussion on JA selection process

So, thank you once again for everyone's participation in this event. It was successful and we're keeping our club strong!

I'd like to thank Japan for choosing me as a BCIO Head Office Member. It's an honor to represent Atlanta, Georgia and I'm excited to go back again this summer. Building up my BC, we're starting to feel more like family working together and I hope to contribute this experience to my position of BC Maintainance in Japan. I sincerely enjoy working with everyone and we're lucky to be Fukuoka's sister city!

Our BC Family (there were more people earlier and many of them had to leave, but I appreciated them for dropping by!)

Article by: Stephanie Tan