Amongst researching the University, many prospective students’ first steps is booking an on-campus tour to view their possible new home.
Many students apply to be tour guides every year with different motivations. Senior Christopher Fountain said he applied to be a tour guide after connecting with the tour guide he had when he first applied to Notre Dame.
“I love the way he presented Notre Dame, and it made me want to go there. And as I've gotten older, I've wanted to kind of give back to that and share my love of Notre Dame,” Fountain said.
Senior Joey Kositzke had always been involved in Notre Dame social life and had a couple of friends that were already Notre Dame tour guides. Kositzke said his friends spoke positively about the experience and encouraged him to apply as well.
“I knew that tour guiding would be a cool opportunity to connect with future generations of students and also reflect on my own journey,” he said.
Sophomore Maya Tuviera said she loves the job, but found the application process quite methodical.
“I went through the application process; it was fairly rigorous, there's several stages, but I still maintain that it's my dream campus job,” Tuviera said.
Regarding the job itself, senior Allison Gentry said she was initially nervous on her first couple of tours, but eventually got used to it.
“In the beginning, it was definitely nerve-wracking for sure. I was really nervous on my first couple tours,” Gentry said. “But since I've gotten used to doing it now, I've really come to flourish in the in the role.”
Being a tour guide consists of giving tours both to families and high school groups. Fountain said the time commitment depends on how much you want to take on.
“It's pretty much what you make of it. They'll assign you every two weeks, they'll send out a schedule, and you usually have two to three tours every two weeks. Tours are probably about an hour and a half,” Fountain said.
Tuviera said her favorite thing to do is to make sure she tailors each tour to the specific needs of students and parents.
“For me, for example, during the info session tours, I'm aware of the fact that you're also trying to convince the parents that it's a good idea for their kids to be allowed to go here,” Tuviera said.
Fountain said one of the best parts of being a tour guide is the feedback from the students who attend his tours.
“I got this email maybe a couple weeks after I gave one of my first tours, and it was from a high school student that I'd given a tour to a couple weeks before that. He said that he loved how I talked about engineering and faith life and the whole undergraduate experience,” Fountain said.
Similarly, Kositzke also mentioned how the best part of being a tour guide is student feedback and how there are certain topics he loves to mention.
“I love to talk about the Keenan Revue, my dorm's signature event, because it's the defining experience of my own Notre Dame journey,” Kositzke said. “I think it's a super fun avenue to talk about all of Notre Dame's quirky dorm traditions.”
Tuviera's favorite part of the tour is passing by the Main Building.
“We usually walk under the golden dome and look up at the underside of the dome. There's a mural painted by Luigi Gregori of the it's personifications of Notre Dame's core curriculum. There's theology in the center, literature, music, poetry,” Tuviera said. “Then I always make the joke saying, ‘As you can see, the dome isn't just a pretty face, she also has a lovely personality.’ And I always get chuckles from people.”
Being a Notre Dame tour guide also comes with its challenges. Gentry said one of the hardest parts of being a tour guide is fielding hard questions.
“I've definitely had a couple of times where it's awkward if people ask about parietals. How do you tell the truth but not make it sound bad? You kind of have to figure out what they want from this answer. Is it a parent saying, ‘Hey, you know, I'm really worried about my kid in this scenario,’ or, ‘Hey, I want my kid to have fun,’” Gentry said.
Likewise, Kositzke said he also had his fair share of awkward questions in tours.
“It's always tough to field questions that we can't answer directly as tour guides. There's always families that press to know admissions information, and that's never the most fun to navigate.”
Kositzke said he encourages other interested students to apply due to how rewarding it is to be a Notre Dame tour guide.
“It's a very special opportunity to embrace your own Notre Dame journey, which you don't get in many other spaces on this campus,” Kositzke said. “So, if you have any interest in this position — you'll probably love it if you end up pursuing it.”
