University of Kansas - Jayhawker Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

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lclockwise from dominanti In fYOI'lt ofthe Kansas Union, a KU ambassador pauses to give background about the school. Prospective students and their parents get a taste of KU on Wheels. backwards and providing university trivia are all in a day's work for KU ambassadors. fphotos by Ryan Scarow tustuirie on a dail basis. Anything can happen, and you just learn to roll with the punches. That is what most ofthe KU Ambassadors will tell you about their unique position even though they work through the summer, through most breaks, in snow, heat and rain. The student ambassadors are an elite group of volunteer students who are chosen to interact with potential students by giving tours. serving on student panels and generally being helpful. i'We,re like the salespeople, a visitoris first look at the university. We make the first impressions, and we can make or break whether students come here, ambassador co- Coordinator John Wilson, Lawton, Okla., sophomore, said. It was a year of growth and change for the traditionally small organization. By combining with the Multicultural Recruitment Team, numbers reached almost 130. The arnbassa- dors also helped the Visitors' Center by giving tours of McCollum and Ellsworth Halls. About 8071 of current students were given a tour by a student ambassador before coming to the University of Kansas. 4'People are always coming up to me and saying, 6You gave me my tour last year! Patrick Nuss, Shawnee senior, said. Last February, my car needed a jump-start so I went up to my old floor in Templin hoping to find one of my old roommates or floormates to help me out. As I got off the elevator, there was a girl in the lobby and she yelled my name, but I didnit recognize her right away. Turns out, I had given her a tour the year before, and she ended up helping me start my earf' The ambassadors face many challenges each day, but keeping up interest is one ofthe easier ones to tackle. Tours never get boring for I eff Crick, vice president of training and education. Things are always changingg new people come with different academic interestsf' Crick, Liberal senior, said. My tour script changes almost every tour, new facts and tidbits are always coming up that I tend to add in. The general reaction is that if I having fim givdng the tour, then most of the time the people are having fun also and I can't remember giving a tour where I wasn't having funf, Student ambassadors must also think quickly to answer the many questions posed by parents and prospective students. One potential student asked Crick if students were actually expected to go to class. MI don't know what he thought college was exactly, but he was cominced that no one went to classesg we just hung around the buildings all day or something, Crick said. He had a look ofshock on his face when I said that was a major part ofmy day, and I might have ruined his view of what college actually was. Sometimes, though, they have to worry about current KU students sabotaging their tours - either on purpose or accidently.Nude models, campus celebrities and immature college students made for distracting moments. '6Once I had a pair ofhigh school girls without parents one day, and they spotted Jeff Boschee on the tour, so diey took off after him and left mef, said Nuss. Though they try to never give the same tour tvtdce, each ambassador finds their ovm favorite piece of trivia, funny campus story or comedic routine. Whenever I give tours the same time as Jeff Crick -which is all the time - we have a little joke. Whenever I mention Watkins Health Center, I always throw in that I eff likes to go sledding on cafeteria trays, and that he knows that X-rays there are 37.50. Since Jeff and I give opposite tour routes, we always meet halfway, and I ask jeff, iHey, how much are X- rays'?, and he yells back 157.50 l '. That always gets a laugh. Nuss said. Though itis rarely predictable, most ambassadors will agree on one thing: they love being a student ambassador. aOriginally, I joined Ambassadors for selfish reasons. I wanted to join a KU club. and since my parents both went here. and they brought me to campus so many times growing up, I thought I would be a tour guide because I knew a lot about campusfi Crick said. After a few years. I do it because I love meeting new people and high school kids. I just love giving tours.

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