A few years ago, we shared a blog about the Minecraft Student Ambassador Program that we created in our district (Atlanta Public Schools) to get our Minecraft experts—our students—to support, train, and model the use of Minecraft Education Edition for teachers and fellow students in Atlanta Public Schools. To learn more about our journey read this blog: Minecraft Student Ambassador blog post or watch this video: Atlanta Public Schools: Minecraft Student Ambassador Program. Now, fast forward to spring 2022, we have replicated our program and transformed it into the official Global Minecraft Student Ambassador Program which allows educators to sponsor their own program in their school or district. We have created a Minecraft Student Ambassador Program Pathway that walks educators through the process of creating their own program. This course is currently available in the Microsoft Learn Educator Center. You can complete this Learning Pathway to become a certified Minecraft Student Ambassador Sponsor.
For educators interested in starting an MSA program in your school or district, we encourage you to either complete the learning path or join the next cohort happening in the fall. The benefits of joining the cohort include:
- Opportunity to engage with fellow educators from around the world as you begin this journey.
- Opportunity to interact with our team as we share our journey, assist you with creating your program, answer any questions you may have, or help you work through some problems you may encounter.
- Opportunity for you and your students to participate in a live Bootcamp and engage with the Minecraft Education Team.
- Opportunity to participate in ongoing meetups to collaborate and share tips with fellow MSA sponsors.
- Finally, your Minecraft Student Ambassadors will have the opportunity to participate in future bootcamps/meetups and engage with the Minecraft EDU team.
Here is what some of the Cohort 1 participants had to say about the program:
- “It was a fantastic course, I liked how the sessions supported the online course.”
- “Thank you for sharing all your wisdom on how you built your amazing program. I am hopeful that we can have both District Ambassadors and that some schools will also have Ambassador programs.”
- “Combining online professional development with the learning modules was a terrific way to participate and to be accountable.”
- “The resources provided cover all the questions that I had about starting an MSA program at my school.”
- “These ladies are on FIRE! Their knowledge, passion, and experience were extremely helpful for all learning groups.”
- “I think it's an amazing way to show students and parents how gaming can be educational in and out of the classroom.”
- “Every session was GREAT!”
- “I really appreciate you all giving us everything we needed to get our club up and going!!”
- “Excellent content and fabulous host/sponsors with lots of energy and great vibes each week.”
Thank you for allowing us to share our passion with you. We hope to see you in the next Minecraft Student Ambassador Cohort as we continue to “build student leaders while building with blocks.”
Felisa, Melissa, Natasha, Rosalyn, and Tommy 💚
