One reporter relives this quintessential student experience
By Julia Berkman
If you’re a student at Western, chances are years prior you went on a tour of campus with the blue-jacketed STaR tour guides. There’s probably a much lower chance you went on that tour within the past few months. I was curious how the tour reflects real life as a Western Student, so recently I decided to join in on one of the many tours Western runs.
Tour guides have a ton of rules that they need to follow, from how they dress to the exact wording of the phrases they have to say. This keeps the tours impartial, positive, and makes sure that every prospective student is given the same impression.
“It’s a lot like acting,” said one guide. “You really have to sell the school and play up the same things: interactivity, student involvement, small class sizes, etc.”
The tour starts at the Rec Center. There, prospective students and their families are told about our varsity sports teams, as well as intramurals and clubs. They then move on to the brick court in front of the rec center to discuss housing. This area is apparently known as Flag Plaza.
A common trend arises on these tours. There are names and significance given to things that real students don’t often use. Fitting 25 people in the Rec Center hot tub, for example, is a feat that I don’t believe has ever been attempted. Whether it be that students don’t know the goings-on of campus, or that the organizers of the tours are a bit out of touch, we’ll never know.
Either way, seeing your own campus through the eyes of someone who has never been there before is strange. Parents asked questions about things like SAT scores and AP credits, two things I am happy to say I haven’t thought of in years.
Maybe I’m biased, but for me this tour reminded me why I decided to come to Western. The tour guides kept it real and were honest about things like fees and how hard registration is. They took us through the most beautiful parts of campus and really played up the interactive and personalized aspects of Western.
However, some of the things the STaR guides said were attempts to gloss over some of the stickier aspects of attending Western. They cited Bellingham being a “commuter city” as the reason almost no students drive to campus. In all actuality, most students can’t drive to campus because parking is so exclusive and expensive.
I learned a lot of new things about Western on this tour. For instance, did you know the Western Front has a singles ad section? I didn’t.
I would recommend any student go on this tour, if only for the strange feeling of a familiar place being less familiar for a bit.
In any case, the tours must be working, because Western had 2,888 new freshmen this year, and we’re looking at an even higher number for this coming year.