For Students, By Students: Inside the Second Annual North State Student Ambassador Conference

In 2025, the Chico State University (CSU) North State Student Ambassadors planned and led a conference dedicated to rural high-school students, a milestone success in the group’s efforts to connect with rural students across northern California. This year, the student ambassadors built upon the success of the first conference and facilitated a second event, Amplifying Regional Voices in Rural Spaces: A Rural High School Voice Conference, drawing over 80 rural students to discuss rural narratives, college exploration, and more. The students came in small groups from more than 10 high schools, many driving over three hours to attend, and represented all grade levels.

The North State Student Ambassadors are a student-affinity group of undergraduates from rural backgrounds who work to connect rural communities to Chico State and investigate the issues facing rural college students; their work is led by Dr. Karen Schreder, RSC Northern California Hub lead and a Chico State faculty member. Chico State anchors RSC’s Northern California Regional Hub, alongside North State Together.

“The Ambassadors wanted to do a second event because we realized the impact and education we were able to provide for students last conference,” shared Bethany Regnani, a CSU senior and longtime North State Ambassador. When designing this year’s conference, the ambassadors wanted to continue the strengths of last year’s iteration– discussions around rurality, narratives, and understanding assets– while growing the opportunities for student-student connection and conversation.

A big change that led to more space for students to share came in the form of afternoon ‘unconferencing’ sessions, where students broke into small groups facilitated by both student ambassadors and area professionals. Simran Wraich, also a North State Ambassador senior, describes that “this year, we did unconferencing sessions, which I think was really good for the students to be able to hear, in a one-on-one conversation with these leaders,” about rurality and the work being done to support students like them.

In addition to the unconferencing portion of the conference, the ambassadors kept two strong components from last year’s inaugural event: a presentation from the ambassadors about their research into rural narratives, led by senior Brynna Garcia, and an asset-mapping activity led by Bethany and Veronica Ulloa that asked students to make a dating-app style profile for their hometowns and county. The activity got students thinking critically about what selling points that their communities have that they might take for granted, and also consider areas of growth they see within their community.

Erika, a freshman student from Etna High School in the remote mountainous area northwest of Redding, took a lot from her experience attending the conference. “It opened my eyes a little bit… being able to really take in, like, ‘Wow, I'm so lucky to live in a place like this, where everybody knows everybody, and we all work together to make our community better.’” For students from rural communities in particular, access to peers from other schools and the opportunities to hear from older rural students like themselves who attend college can be limited, making the event a particularly valuable experience.

Erika saw her aspirations for leadership reflected in the student-led nature of the conference. “I think that it's great. We actually just did something in class that we took a personality test, and I learned that I am very big on leadership. I always want to be a leader…I am the first person in my family to actually want to or be able to go to college…So I just want to move outside of that.”

For Isa O’Brion, a Chico State sophomore and ambassador, that type of response from participating students is what gives the ambassadors the motivation to put on events like this. “We wanted to do a second one because we just saw how it impacted so many people, and we just love to hear all the feedback, and we love what we do. So we really just wanted to do another one to promote rurality. And like, coming from a rural area, you don't realize how important it is and how much you could value it. So we just really want to change their perspective about where they live.”

The ambassadors support rural communities in other ways, too. Isa shares that “we love to do outreach to our communities, so anytime we have a chance, we love to go to the high school, talk to the students and just support them and help bridge the gap from rural students going to college and going to higher education.” The group also recently collaborated with RSC Kansas Hub partners Kansas State University on a similar event, forging a cross-hub collaboration that saw several North State Student Ambassadors go to Manhattan, KS.

Whether holding events on campus, visiting a remote high school, or even flying to the midwestern plains, the Chico State University North State Student Ambassadors are always looking for the next way to uplift rural students and open their eyes to the possibilities ahead. True to their roots as a voice for rural students, Simran and the ambassadors hope to draw upon the conversations held throughout the conference to chart their course. After the conference, Bethany reflected that “I’m most proud that we are able to bring students from all over northern California with different backgrounds and perspectives together to help them appreciate their hometowns and communities. Creating a space for young students to feel seen is something very special and I don’t take it for granted.”

Rural Schools Collaborative would like to thank Dr. Karen Schreder for facilitating our visit and participation in the Rural High School Voice Conference, and for her continued support and partnership with RSC. We would also like to thank the entire North State Ambassador team for always making us feel at home on Chico State’s campus.