On a sunny Friday morning, the steps of Middle College
swarm with prospective students and their parents, their
arms filled with handouts. The large group splits up,
heading off with various student tour-leaders, and eight people
follow Julie Rainwater’08 (New Brunswick, N.J.).
| Photo by Jeff Woods |
 |
| “Walking backward really is not that difficult; it’s all about the right footwear,” says campus tour leader Julie Rainwater’08, as she leads a group of visitors up College Street. |
Julie looks at her group and smiles.
“Just a warning—on my tour I talk a lot, and I talk constantly,”
the political science major says. “So if you have any
questions, you can interrupt me.”
Julie keeps her
word and talks
throughout the tour,
pausing only to ask
for questions. As she
explains the campus
and the College, she
sketches the daily lives
of students and peels
layers of history off
buildings.
She does it all walking
backward.
Student-guides give
campus tours to more
than 3,000 people at
Beloit each year. The
busiest time is from mid-March through early May,
when more than 70 families
visit each week. The
tours play a crucial part in
recruitment, allowing
prospective students to learn
about Beloit firsthand.
“Whenever I do tour-guide
training with new students, I
ask how many crossed a school
off their list of colleges based
on the tour,” says Jim Zielinski, director of admissions.
“Generally, every hand in the room goes up. In the eyes of a
visitor, the guide represents every student on campus.”
Two prospective students and six adults form Julie’s tour
group this morning. The students are both high school juniors. One, from Michigan, pulls a digital camera out every few minutes
to take pictures. The other, from New Jersey, says he heard
about Beloit from Loren Pope’s book Colleges That Change
Lives. He’s in the middle of a whirlwind spring break tour of
colleges.
Inside the World Affairs Center, Julie stands in front of a wall
plastered with information about international study programs.
In one photograph, smiling students stand at the Great Wall,
their backpacks looming over their shoulders. In 2006-07, 161
Beloit students went abroad on 68 programs in 42 countries.
Julie leads the tour through the lounge, where students lay draped over couches, catching naps between classes. Outside,
the group squints in the sunlight while Julie details the Beloit
Poetry Garden. She describes it as an outdoor-gathering place, a
performance space for anything from improvisational dance to
poetry readings and classes.
“What is cool is on the first day of spring, every class is
fighting to have class there,” she
explains.
The tour stops at the Logan
Museum of Anthropology, then
it’s on to the Neese Theatre,
then past Eaton Chapel, where
Julie points out the Rostra
Beloitensia, a stone where students
can voice their opinions
like Roman orators.
Inside Pearsons, the chatter
of students during the
lunchtime rush buzzes
through D.K.’s. In the Mail
Center, a line snakes out as
students wait to retrieve
packages. The tour moves
on to Chamberlin and
Mayer Hall. In the glass
walkway into the biology
floor, Julie points out
Fido, a huge snapping
turtle in an aquarium,
the unofficial mascot of
Beloit.
“Chamberlin is not
going to be here much
longer,” Julie says. But
she shares one of her
favorite facts about the building anyway.
“Structurally, Chamberlin was built perfectly east to west so
that on the vernal equinox, the sun will shine perfectly through
the building.”
The tour reaches a climax in Aldrich Hall, when Julie shows
the group a student’s room. Posters cover the walls, and crumpled
clothes form mountains on the floor. The prospective students
nod affirmatively, and the adults shuffle through to see
for themselves. Julie explains the roommate selection process,
and encourages the students to ask for an international roommate,
wherever they go to college.
As Julie leads the group back to Middle College, she tells one
last anecdote, a confession: “I’m a double-legacy,” she admits,
explaining that both of her parents are Beloit College alumni
who met in school. Julie did not want to come to Beloit at first,
but she visited anyway, and a few professors listened carefully
to her concerns. She says they were the key reason she came.
“I love Beloit College, and I want to share that with as many
people as possible,” she says.
