Student ambassadors promote pandemic protocols on campus

The success of the Panthers Protecting Panthers (P3P) program relies on the university community embracing its fundamentals. So what is the best way to get every person on campus to wear a mask, adhere to physical distancing and fill out the P3P app?

It begins with education and letting every Panther know why the program is in place.

To promote understanding and compliance with the university’s public health guidelines, FIU trained its first group of student ambassadors for P3P this week. Their job is to walk MMC and BBC and encourage compliance with the program.

“I want our ambassadors to help infuse these expectations into our campus culture. Education will result in everyone doing the right thing, not just when ambassadors are around,” said Assistant Vice President of Auxiliary Operations Sanyo Mathew, who organized the program.

Mathew wants his P3P reps to take a friendly, customer service approach. If someone is found on campus not wearing a mask, an ambassador will provide them a free one. And if students are not adhering to physical distancing guidelines, then a fellow student will be there to explain why close contact is dangerous during a pandemic. 

FIU police officers will be ready to help ambassadors handle a situation, Police Chief Alexander Casas explained at a training session on Monday. “The FIU Police are here to support you,” Casas said.

Each ambassador will be assigned a zone to monitor at either MMC or BBC.

For freshman biological sciences major Yago Oquendo, the ambassador program is a way to engage in his community.

“I’m an extrovert. I’m very social. I have always been. I like spreading positivity. So what this job means to me is that I’m doing something I’m comfortable doing. This is something I feel I can connect to a lot. I speak English and Spanish, so I can speak to most of the students and give them some guidance into the protocols of FIU,” Oquendo said.