As seniors begin to realize how close their college career is to ending, brand new souls begin to seriously consider where their college career should begin. Ashland University is more than willing to show these newcomers all of the reasons why they should invest in this campus.

   Many students have noticed that tour season is back in full swing, but spring may not be as busy as it looks for tour guides.

   “Both fall and spring are busy for the admissions office but especially in the fall,” Tina Cunningham, assistant director of admissions, said. “In the fall, the admissions staff is busy traveling to local high schools and college fairs, and this is typically when high school seniors will come for a campus visit. In the spring, the juniors start their college exploration.”

   Tour guides go through several different training processes before they are considered qualified.

   “Tour guide training was pretty intense,” freshman Shelby Kessinger said. “It was a lot to learn in just a few days, especially being a freshman.”

   Sophomore Jennifer Holderman agreed.

   “Basically it’s a ton of information thrown at your brain, plus the silly golf cart training video, which is always great,” Holderman said.

   Cunningham explained that the tour guide experience isn’t just about training videos.

   “[Tour guides] are given specific points to highlight but are really encouraged to tell ‘their story,’” Cunningham said. “We want the visitors to feel a connection with the tour guide and feel comfortable with them. [Visitors] may not always remember who their admission counselor was but my hope is that their tour guide will leave a lasting impression on them.”

   After training, it’s really all about finding a connection with the people who come to visit, Holderman said. She would never lie about the bad things at AU, but instead shares her own experience with the tour.

   “[People] always tell us we are the ones who influence potential students and I think that’s true,” Holderman said. “They hear our experiences and our positive look on Ashland and they know we’re being real with them. Tour guides are brutally honest with tours. It’s what we do. I feel like we help with retention by giving students someone to relate to and showing them campus ‘up front’ before they even make a decision. If they think it’s a good fit, hopefully they’ll come here and stay.”

   Kessinger said that even when she isn’t having a good day, she tries hard to make the people on tour feel excited and ready for a new experience or adventure.

   “I make connections with tours by trying to relate to them and just by being exciting,” she said. “College is a huge transition and being peppy and welcoming makes it so much easier for prospective [students].”

   Tour guides aren’t the only people who prepare for visitors. Holderman and Kessinger agree that Convo makes their job a little easier.

   “I think Convo is always ready for tours,” Holderman said. “They’re really good with letting us come in to show the tour how things work and then bounce afterwards. They trust us.”

   Kessinger says that Convo’s standards and levels of expertise make it easy to show prospective students how good food services can be.

   “It is helpful because the dining is great here; even though we complain all the time about it, it’s really great,” Kessinger said. “The Rec. also [makes it easy] because the facility is amazing.”

   Holderman enjoys taking tours through the Rec. Center and says that it’s really the little things that help make the tour groups feel comfortable, welcome and excited.

   “The Rec. usually just lets us go through the ‘do not enter,’ gate which always makes people feel like a rock star,” Holderman said. “They [the Rec.] are always very friendly and used to us walking through.”

   Once the tour is finished, prospective students have an opportunity to give their tour guide an assessment and feedback.

   “After an individual campus visit, the admissions counselor will hand the prospective student a campus visit evaluation,” Cunningham said. “This gives the student an opportunity to let us know how their visit went and what we can do to improve our visits. The tour guide is also mentioned on this card. We ask the parents to fill out a separate survey than the students so that we can receive feedback from both points of view.”

   In the end, the tour is as customized for the potential students as it can be.

   “A lot of times we will connect by taking a tour with our same interests, major or hometown, so they can relate to us,” Holderman said. “We also try to personalize the tour so it’s more comfortable and applicable to the student and the family and what they want to see.”