Deadline approaching for Monticello-Wayne County Jr. Ambassador Program: How to enroll

MONTICELLO, Ky. ( FOX 56 ) — Creating the next generation of leaders while giving back.

That’s the mission of the Monticello-Wayne County Chamber of Commerce’s Junior Ambassador Program.

Wayne County has a population of about 20,000 people. Monticello, specifically, has a population of a little under 6,000.

Leading members of the Chamber of Commerce call the county “small town USA.”

This makes the Junior Ambassador Program critical to bringing the entire community together.

This isn’t a summer internship; it’s a year-long endeavor where seniors at Wayne County High School get to do everything under the sun.

From helping with local events, including the largest Christmas parade in the region and Monticello Market, to sitting in on various meetings and creating connections with local political leaders, business owners, and more.

Offering a scholarship ranging from $500 to $1,000, leaders with the Chamber of Commerce say it’s nice to give back to kids who work hard and will greatly benefit from it.

“If you drive down in Monticello, downtown Monticello, we are alive and vibrant,” explained Chamber of Commerce President Brittany Guffey. “We have new businesses opening up all the time. But we think that that is resulting from so many active people in our community working together to go towards a larger goal, and several of our past union ambassadors are actually still involved in our program and our missions today, and they still volunteer their time today, even after high school.”

Going into its third year, the program wants to, in part, create the next generation of leaders for the region.

Guffey says many of the kids who have returned after the program say they’re grateful they’re getting the chance to be put in the real world so quickly.

The program is designed for rising high school seniors, so they need to learn several “soft skills” they’ll need as they get older.

For the first time this year, Guffey says they have so many applicants that they’ll be holding an interview process to narrow down the top 10 candidates.

So, what skills does Guffey say make the perfect junior ambassador?

“There’s so many scholarship opportunities and experiences out there that are solely based on who has the best grade point average,” Guffey outlined. “We realized very quickly that was not what our main focus was. Yes, we want them to have decent and good grades, but we know that’s not all that makes a great citizen for our community. So, we really look at what they are involved in, what they are doing, what are their passions, and things that they may already be spending some of their time on that could also interact and kind of tie in with what we’re doing as well?”

Guffey says in the future, they hope to have more community partners so they have more scholarship money available and can take on more junior ambassadors to be a part of the program.

The deadline to sign up for the Junior Ambassador Program is May 31.

You can get more information by emailing Brittani Dick with the Monticello-Wayne County Chamber of Commerce at info@monticellokychamber.com or visiting the Chamber of Commerce’s office at 18 North Main Street in Monticello.

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