Application process

  • 3 minutes

Once you've publicized and created a buzz around your MSA program, it's time to have interested students complete their applications. You can create your application process using simple paper forms or make it even easier for everyone to access using a Microsoft Form. You'll want to gather basic information from your students like their name, grade level, email, t-shirt size, etc., but you'll also want to ask questions to get to know them as well. Some of these questions could include:

  • Tell us about yourself.
  • Why are you interested in becoming a Minecraft Student Ambassador?
  • What is your favorite thing about Minecraft?
  • If you could change anything about Minecraft, what would it be?

You may want to recreate and utilize this Microsoft Form for your MSA applicants: Minecraft Student Ambassador application.

Something else you may also want to consider doing is having students collect a teacher recommendation as well. This provides additional information about your MSA applicants from the perspective of their teacher.

This is a Microsoft Form that you may want to recreate and use for a teacher recommendation: Teacher recommendation form.

Be sure to advertise your application deadlines very clearly so students get all their application materials in on time to be assessed for acceptance into the program.

When you're ready to let students, their parents, and their teachers know that they've been accepted into your MSA program, send out congratulatory notifications of acceptance. Make sure you include next steps, upcoming meeting dates, and the contact information of the sponsors, etc.

Sample acceptance email sent to our MSAs:

Illustration of a message congratulating students on becoming members of a Minecraft Student Ambassador program.

Staffing your MSA Program

Now that you've selected your MSAs and potentially created your calendar of events there is one decision that you'll need to make regarding the transition of MSAs from one grade level to the next. Will you require students to reapply each year, or will you allow students to automatically remain an MSA in your program once they're selected? There isn’t a right or wrong way to answer this question but there are pros and cons to each choice.

Will you require MSAs to reapply each year?

Some of the benefits of having your MSAs apply each year are:

  • You can expand your program because different students could be in your program each year.
  • You can redesign your program each year
  • Students will be encouraged to meet all the criteria of being an MSA, so they're selected for the program again

Some of the cons of having your MSAs apply each year are:

  • Unable to establish a consistent group of students
  • Always starting over and training your MSAs
  • Lack of consistency with student leaders

Illustration summarizing the advantages and considerations for requiring MSAs to reapply each year that are discussed in this unit.

Will you allow your MSAs to automatically remain in the program from year to year?

Some of the benefits of allowing your MSAs to remain in the program from year to year are:

  • Students can take more ownership of the program
  • Create historical knowledge from the MSAs who can support the new MSAs who enter the program
  • Your program will continue to organically grow and expand on the initiatives established
  • Creates a built-in culture and community
  • Creates consistency

Some of the cons of allowing your MSAs to remain in the program from year to year are:

  • Limits the number of new participants in your program
  • Won’t allow new/or fresh ideas
  • The program will become stagnant

As stated earlier, there isn’t a right or wrong way to answer the question of how you'll address your MSAs from grade to grade. You must look at the pros and cons of each choice and make the decision based on what benefits your program the most.