[FSA Program] Updates and what to expect in 2016!

2015 was an exciting year for the Firefox Student Ambassador program as we continued the rebuilding effort we began in 2014.

FSAs spread Firefox and Mozilla’s mission around the world through creative marketing and outreach campaigns, hosted hundreds of event, grew communities new and established, promoted web literacy, and much more. We welcomed the 2nd set of FSA E-Board for 2015-16, a fantastic set of Regional Ambassador Leads, and had the highest number of active FSAs in the program’s history.

As we move on to the next year there are some changes to the FSA program. Here’s the summary: The FSA program, and involving University students around the world in Mozilla’s mission, is going to get even bigger, more active and more exciting in 2016!

We’re doubling-down on student involvement, not slowing down. And the opportunities for student leadership and contribution to Mozilla’s mission are only going to get broader and more important.

If you’re a student, this a great time to ramp up your involvement in the FSA program. If you’re a Mozilla Rep or contributor who is not in school, we also need your help in realizing the impact that’s possible on University campuses around the world.

 

So what’s changing?

First, the FSA Program has moved from the Engagement/Marketing Team to the Participation Team. Given the broad mandate of the team to grow participation in all parts of Mozilla’s work and mission, this change means more breadth for student contribution and leadership in Mozilla. We will also be working to bring more coordination between the Mozilla Reps and FSA Programs.

We would be remiss at this point if we didn’t recognise the leadership of Chelsea Novak and Mary Colvig in championing and driving the FSA Program within the Engagement Team. All of us on the Participation Team are truly privileged to be standing on a foundation of their hard work, smarts and passion.

Second, our team has made “supercharging our youth strategy with a reinvented campus program” one of handful of priorities for the first half of 2016. As part of this, we are working with the FSA E-Board and various teams around Mozilla to launch a Campus Campaign (kicking off on Data Privacy Day — January 28th — and lasting for a few months) that will have a menu of well-designed contribution options, from squashing bugs to advocacy to teaching to outreach and marketing. More details are coming in the next few weeks.

Finally, our community manager extraordinaire TJ Lee has stepped away from being a staff member at Mozilla to explore the world. Please tweet at TJ to thank her for her leadership of this program over the past couple of years.

 

What are your ideas?

While we work on the details of the Campus Campaign (to be released soon!), we’d really love to hear your ideas for the FSA Program and student involvement in Mozilla.

What opportunities do you see? What contribution areas would students on your campus be interested in? How can we better reach students and increase the profile of Mozilla’s mission? How can we have even higher impact with our outreach?

What about leadership development? What skills do students want to learn? What professional and leadership development opportunities could we build for students?

How might students help Mozilla innovate? On our products and technology? On ways of bringing people together and advocating for policy change?

We’re excited to see your ideas in response to this blog post.

Otherwise, let’s all get ready for an amazing, high impact 2016!!

 

With Love,

FSA E-Board, George Roter and Rosana Ardila

3 responses

  1. Museb wrote on :

    As now mozilla is going to start in universities . My suggestion is that ,mozilla is supporting web content(HTML,CSS,,ETC) alot but it should also support some other fields of programming such as C++,C#, JAVA etc by organizing coding compilations and online learning resources for computer science students so students at university and other academic level can avail opportunities & love Mozilla.

  2. Viswaprasath wrote on :

    Helping contributors to Learn more about Various contribution paths (like L10n, Coding, MLS, WebExtensions and so on.)

    Helping them to participate in Testdays, L10n Sprints, hackathons.

  3. SIDDHESH DIXITT wrote on :

    #Firefox Student Ambassador i joined it to promote openness,innovations and opportunities on the web.