November 19, 2009
Elon, N.C. – It’s the time of the year where flip-flop weather takes on a new meaning.
But not even the rain keeps Elon University tour guides from showing prospects the campus, known as the 9th most beautiful campus in the U.S., according to Princeton Review.
Thursday afternoon, Elon tour guides Sarah Carideo and Clayton Winkelvness puddle-jumped a group of 13 students and parents across the 64 facilities on campus.
Winkelvness, a senior from Pittsburgh, is aware that tours must adapt to the weather conditions. The admissions welcome center provides umbrellas and ponchos for visitors.
Tour guides stay under shelters as much as possible before talking about the facilities. Winkelvness also tries to engage visitors to keep their minds off the weather conditions.
“On a sunny day everyone wants to ask everything, everyone is real excited,” said Winkelvness.“ [When it’s raining] you have to work a little harder to get them to answer and ask questions.”
Tara Smith, a Mass. native, drove from her hometown to Elon with her father on Thursday morning for the afternoon tour.
Smith has visited any campuses favoring better conditions. She said the rain did not affect her tour at Elon because it was weather she is exposed to frequently at home.
“It would have been nicer, I did some tours where it was sunny out, but overall I could still see everything, it wasn’t down-pouring,” said Smith.
The center in Moseley Campus Center schedules two tours, at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., each day. There are two paths that tour guides can take, one focusing on the North and West campus or the East campus, including the Koury Business Center.
**Footage was shot with Flip Video
Glenn Scott
December 7, 2009
Fun lede. Makes people want to dive into the story and get wet. (Sorry.) You did well on this.