This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Mizzou chapter.
We all remember our first tour at Mizzou, and for many of us, it’s what made us realize Mizzou was the right choice. When we’re running around campus, it’s always exciting to see a tour group of eager prospective students being shown their possible new home. Junior Elise Henn is one of the tour guides here at Mizzou. She’s originally from Parkville, MO and is studying communication science and disorders. She’s here to tell her journey of being on Tour Team.
Her Campus Mizzou: How did you get involved in being a tour guide? What made you want to join?
Elise Henn: I have always held Mizzou’s tour guides in very high esteem, which I think stems from my own campus visit experience. My tour guide was the epitome of cool and involved, and I remember thinking that I wanted to be just like him when I started school. As an underclassmen, my regard for the MU tour guides only increased (as did my love for Mizzou), and I realized that Tour Team was something I definitely wanted to be a part of. I applied in the fall of my sophomore year, but was not hired. Discouraged, I was not planning on applying again, until a friend told me I should give it one more shot. I am so thankful for that bit of advice, because in the spring of that same school year I applied again and made the team! My coworkers are still the epitome of cool and involved, and I feel so lucky to have such accomplished peers to look up to!
HCM: What’s your favorite part about showing around perspective Mizzou students?
EH: I love getting to talk about all of the unique traditions we have at Mizzou like rubbing the nose of David R. Francis’s statue for good luck on a test. Fun bits of information like that really captivate people and they’re my favorite part of our university’s history! I also love when I’m able to talk with potential students one on one. Often people are scared to ask questions in a group setting, so I enjoy when students and families hang back to ask additional questions because it allows me to give them further personal insight about Mizzou.
HCM: Where’s your favorite spot to take tours? What places gets the most oohs and ahs?
EH: It’s funny that you ask this because there are two parts of the tour where I hear students and parents “ooh” and “ahh” the most, but they are very different places! One is Tiger Grotto, which is our resort style pool in the Rec Complex. Its whirl pool, waterfall and lazy river make it a pretty definite wow factor! The other is oddly enough the laundry room in the residence hall because parents become so excited when they find out that their kids can use a website to track their laundry!
HCM: Do you have any go-to facts or jokes you use on tours?
EH: There several go-to jokes I use on tours, but I can’t take credit because I’ve heard them all from other guides! One of my favorite go-to facts is that there is a rainforest green house located in Tucker Hall, complete with a koi pond and dock, where students are welcome to hang out during the day!
HCM: What else are you involved in on campus?
EH: In addition to being a tour guide, I am a brother of Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity, a piccolo player in Marching Mizzou, an MAB Site Leader, an ambassador for the Multicultural Certificate, and a member of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association!
HCM: What’s one random fact about Mizzou that you know from being on Tour Team?
EH: Did you know that Elanore Roosevelt once flooded the third floor of the Chancellor’s Residence while taking a bath? Because of that she was never invited back!
HCM: What’s the hardest part of being a tour guide? Best part?
EH: Being a tour guide can be challenging if you don’t have chemistry with a certain group of visitors, but overall it is a immensely rewarding job. The absolute best part of Tour Team is that, in addition to sharing my knowledge with visitors, I am constantly learning new facts about Mizzou myself. Our leadership team brings different campus representatives to speak at our meetings, and just this semester we’ve taken salsa lessons from the Latin Dance Club, sampled ice cream made by dairy science students, and toured the campus observatory! There are so many little-known niches around campus that I want to explore before I graduate and through Tour Team I have been able to do so!