During the 2023 school year, 5,404 students attended a campus tour. Almost 80% applied for admission.
In the fall of 2024, 30% were enrolled.
Campus tours allow students at every stage in the admissions process to see themselves as a Golden Flash, said Shawn Wilson, senior assistant director in the admissions office, who runs the campus tours center.
He oversees and works with 59 tour guides to show students and families why Kent State might be the place for them.
“It’s really great, as a tour guide, seeing the students that I gave tours here on campus the next semester or next year,” said Stephen Lucash, junior theater design, technology and production major.
Lucash estimated he sees anywhere from 20 to 30 students who took one of his tours each fall. He has been giving tours for over a year.
The tours center typically does one wave of hiring in the spring, and interested students can apply on Handshake.
The starting pay is $11.50 an hour, and lead tour guides make $12.50 an hour. After a year, students are eligible to become a lead tour guide, like Lucash.
Each week, Lucash gives two to three tours of campus. One tour lasts around two hours once families check in at the tour’s center.
The experience begins with a 20-minute presentation by Wilson, who tries to address common concerns for parents.
“Parents, to me, typically want to know the basic needs,” Wilson said. “Are you going to take care of my kid? Where are they going to eat? Where are they going to sleep? Are they going to be safe?”
Lucash gets a lot of questions from parents about housing during his tours. After running the tour center for four years, Wilson has learned that, unlike parents, students are more concerned with fitting in, making friends and finding their place at Kent State.
“You’re going to become part of the community here. You’re going to make memories on and off campus,” Wilson said.
Some of Kent State’s best qualities are its kind people, beauty and the connection to the city of Kent, he said.
Wilson relies on the tour guides to reassure students during the campus tour. After Wilson’s presentation, guides come into the center and families are divided among them. Wilson aims for five or fewer families per tour guide.
The guides lead families through one of three tour routes: central campus, front campus or the science hall.
Which route families take depends on what program the student showed interest in. All routes show the Student Center, the library and Eastway.
Eastway and the model residence rooms are the “gem” of the tours, Wilson said. That is when students light up, Lucash said.
“Every time they walk through a room, they go, ‘Oh, this is nice. Oh, this is awesome,’” Lucash said. “I mean, just today [a] kid said, ‘Oh, this is tuff.’”
Bianca Amoako is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].