RAMbassadors Welcome New Students To Robinson Secondary In Fairfax

MCLEAN, VA — When Robinson Secondary senior Moran Stiller first joined RAMbassadors as a ninth grader, she was looking for a way to get more involved in her school.

“But as time went on, I realized that I loved connecting with students," she said, during a speech Tuesday at the 2025 Shape of the Region Conference in McLean. "I loved talking to kids during lunch, and I loved making new friends with them. I loved to talk with parents during football games and discuss new topics with their guardians at military family tailgates, easing their anxieties. It gives me a purpose to be there for others and make sure other people have their community. They will always have a place at Robinson."

Co-hosted by The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia and 17 regional partners, the Shape of the Region Conference brought together community leaders from a variety of fields to discuss how to create safer spaces for youth, combat bullying, prevent substance abuse, and improve mental health access.

“Today's Shape of the Region Conference focuses on important topics that I hear about all the time, diversity, safety and empowerment,” Moran said. “I urge us to build connections and work together as we continue these conversations finding solutions for a better, more hopeful future.”

When Stiller founded RAMbassadors as a ninth grader, the program focused primarily on helping new students from military families navigate an unfamiliar school. In 2025, the program has expanded to help more than 215 students make connections within the Robinson community.

When a new student arrives, the RAMbassadors take them on a tour of the school and give them a “swag bag” filled with all the information that the student needs to know, such as bell schedules and who is their counselor.

The work of the RAMbassadors doesn’t end when the final bell of the day rings. The group hosts breakfasts or lunches, so that they can start making close relationships right away, according to Stiller.

“We've noticed that the hardest time for students is lunch,” Stiller said. “To combat that problem, we've set aside two community tables at the beginning of the school year, every day for new students and RAMbassadors to bond and deepen their connections.”

Thanks to a grant from Educate Fairfax, the RAMbassadors will be taking new students to the zoo, giving more time to bond outside of the classroom.

Holli Selman, Robinson’s college and career specialist, serves as the RAmbassador’s faculty advisor. She’s also the program’s Purple Star Liaison, acting as a point of contact for military families.

Stiller credits Selman’s leadership as helping to establish an environment of accountability and communication, which has created a great community among the group’s executive leadership team, the Leadership Advisory Council and the RAMbassadors as a whole.

Each summer, student ambassadors convene at George Mason University, thanks to a partnership between GMU, the Virginia Department of Education and Fairfax County Public Schools.

Last summer, Stiller had the opportunity to talk to Lisa Coons, the former state superintendent of public instruction for Virginia, about RAMmbassadors and the impact it was having at Robinson.

This led to Stiller and RAMbassador Secretary Lena Kim launching the FCPS mentorship program, where they teach other schools about outreach, fundraising, community building and expanding influence to other schools across Fairfax County.