With the help of the Internet, we can literally read someone?s thoughts and experiences on a daily basis. From web logs, also known as blogs, we can learn if a certain individual cut someone off on the freeway or whether or not he or she wore stretch pants for Thanksgiving.

Google the word “blog” and you?ll find that there are over 1 billion results. Hidden within the muddle of websites are 10 blogs from Sacramento State?s student ambassadors.

Launched along with the redesign of the school?s new website is Student Bloggers, a featured site that aims to give prospective students an insight into the lives of Sac State students.

“I?ve seen the Student Bloggers before and read a few,” freshman Karen Chan said. “Some students give good tips for the college lifestyle. So that?s really cool because I?m kind of new to it.”

“The purpose of the blogs is to let people who are coming to the website get a good view of what type of students we have attending Sac State and to get a student perspective of what goes on on campus,” said Kelly McCrae, communications assistant for Outreach Admissions and Services.

Student Bloggers aspires to reveal campus issues and provide student views of the university. It gives insight into a day in the life of a Sac State student, McCrae said.

The 10 school ambassadors are the university?s first. They were hand-picked this fall semester from 20 applicants wanting to reach out to new and potential Sac State students.

In the past, there were people in the office who specifically worked in communications. Others worked only in tours or counseling. It just made more sense to combine job descriptions because they need to know the same things, McCrae said.

Acceptance as an ambassador was determined on current student status, communication skills, attitude towards the campus and knowledge of admission requirements and students services. The students were also chosen from different departments to ensure that there is a variety of majors among the ambassadors.

Tasks of student ambassadors include conducting campus tours, replying to emails sent to their offices and congratulating Sac State applicants. They are also required to maintain a university blog. That is where Student Bloggers comes in. An entry once every two weeks is encouraged to keep blogs current. “A lot of people think that maybe certain people signed up, but actually it?s part of their job,” McCrae said.

McCrae is responsible for the site. “I make sure that before it goes out on the web I edit it and that the content is appropriate to go on the Sac State website,” McCrae said.

The Student Bloggers website is designed by a company called Hobsons. Other schools such as Stanford, Yale and Santa Clara University have university blogs similar to that of Sac State?s.

Student Bloggers is as simple as a website can be with the homepage only displaying pictures of the ambassadors. “There?re no plans to change it.” McCrae said. “It?s going pretty well. We?re happy with the way students are using it.”

Student ambassador and business major Tom Ko said it is great to share what he likes on-campus with other students. “It?s very useful for students because it provides a lot of resources ? especially for prospective students,” Ko said.

Through her blog, student ambassador and accounting major Charise Banks wants to give other students or future students an idea of what a normal student is like. Since blogs are rapidly growing more and more popular, Banks believes that the new generation might be more interested in it and that it will be a lot more helpful for them.

Banks and Ko have been recognized on campus for their blogs. “Some people ask me about my blog,” Ko said. “But, like, when I walk on campus, nobody comes to me and says ?Oh, you?re the guy that?s on the blog.? I was expecting that.”

Sac State ambassadors are a diverse group ? not only in background, but in knowledge as well. “We have people that commute from Stockton, one that lives in the dorms, a couple of them are transfer students, a few of them are first-time freshmen,” McCrae said. “We have anywhere from business majors to music majors doing it. So I think we got a pretty good variety of students ? something we really wanted to see.”

To read the student blogs, visit blogs.chatuniversity.com/csus/.

Olivia Gray can be reached at [email protected]