Campus tours are a dime a dozen here at St. Olaf. Every Friday, you can expect that there’ll be groups everywhere; walking inside Buntrock during the peak Friday Flower hours, or strolling through different buildings while the tour guides explain the types of classes held there. These tours are great for interested high school students to see if they want to start their college journey here, become an Ole, and pursue their passion in their dream majors. But the students on campus find these tours tolerable at best and annoying at worst, and often wish for the large groups of families to get out of their way.
Now, honestly, the tours themselves don’t bother me. I took a tour around this campus before I became a student. There were just two guides with me, my brother, and my mom, so it was a more personalized tour. The campus is beautiful and has great opportunities for everyone, so having guides who could relate to my identity really made the experience better. So I really do give grace to the familiar one-on-one tours with a child and a parent or guardian. Wanting a personalized tour is a feeling that I understand from when I was in the same shoes as these high school students figuring out where to go to college.
Where I don’t have the same understanding is when multiple large groups of families are touring throughout the day, or when tours enter the same building back-to-back with no regard for the volume and space in said building. Granted, if there is a large group, most guides have their microphones on. If they are outside of a classroom, it can be disruptive until the door is closed. Furthermore, Stav and the Cage get crowded quicker; the groups take up so much space in the hallway that I have to cut in front of them, and they walk so slowly that I have to speed walk to get past them. I have nothing against the tour guides; it’s their job. It’s the people on the tours that get on my nerves — they stare into classrooms, take up space, and get in the way of students.
All in all, it’s something that’ll keep happening, and it’s something I can’t control. Just have smaller groups so tours can be more beneficial and individualized, and please get out of the way of current students.
