New Tour Team members complete training

The training for the new recruits included shadowing and an evaluation.

By Melissa Gilstrap

Published April 27, 2010

Members of Mizzou Tour Team often describe themselves as the faces of MU for visiting high school students, families, alumni and transfer students. Now, the official tour guides of the university will be seeing some new faces of their own: Tour Team hired 24 new members in March.

Members needed to provide a cover letter, resume, Tour Team application form and creative project, Tour Team Co-Chairwoman Megan Ogar said.

"The project is supposed to show their personality and their enthusiasm for Mizzou," Ogar said.

After the application materials were reviewed, potential members were interviewed in groups. A portion of these applicants then had an individual interview with the incoming and outgoing Tour Team chairpersons and with Visitor Relations Coordinator LeAnn Stroupe.

Tour Team member Quinten Roberson, who has been giving tours for more than a year, said Tour Team looked for certain qualities in new members.

"You definitely have to be a creative person and a person who is able to deal with stress," Roberson said. "You have to be someone that is not shy and that is confident in themselves and overall just a general nice person."

First, new members must sit in on admissions presentations and learn how to staff the Office of Admissions in Jesse Hall. A new member participates in three shadow tours, where he or she strictly observes a veteran member during the tour. After observing, the new Tour Team member goes on two "tag team" tours. During this tour, both the veteran Tour Team member and the new Tour Team member can switch off with the tour responsibilities, Ogar said.

After these steps, the new Tour Team members lead a campus tour by themselves, and a member evaluates them.

New Tour Team member Bryan Dykes, hired March 15, completed his training by leading his evaluation tour Thursday afternoon. Dykes said he decided to become a member because he wanted to represent MU.

"I just wanted to give my experiences on campus and tell them why I love coming here," Dykes said.

On Thursday, new member Zach Parolin shadowed member Jim Stites, who has been giving tours for about a year.

"As a new guide, my favorite part is seeing how the tour guides can really have an impact on future students," Parolin said.

Tour guides lead groups of potential students and families past MU landmarks, such as Francis Quadrangle, the Student Recreation Complex, Speakers Circle and University Bookstore. Tour guides provide facts and tell anecdotes about their experiences at MU while giving the tours.

"This is our competition pool, and with the sound system you can hear the music that is playing in the rest of the Rec when you're underwater," Stites said to his tour group Thursday morning. "Two years ago Michael Phelps came here and swam. I didn't see any of my girl friends during that weekend."