Campus Tours Educate College Hopefuls

The College and Career Center offered free campus tours at UC Davis and Laney College for students on January 29 and 30. While only a few students signed up for the Laney College visit, the tour for UC Davis was packed.

According to college counselor Joan Bachelor, it was the 1st time Campolindo attempted to schedule a tour to Laney College. “We only had a few kids who signed up [to visit Laney college] but they couldn’t end up going so only Los Lomas kids went because the few Campo kids that signed up were not allowed to go [for various reasons].”

Drumming up interest in community colleges has long been a challenge for the Bachelor.

“I wanted the kids to be able to see that Laney College offers some great certification programs that kids aren’t aware of, and a lot of different options for them, so it was really giving kids opportunities to see the different kinds of programs that are offered at community colleges. But, unfortunately, no one wanted to go from Campo. But you keep trying. The first time I did the DVC talk, no one came, and then the last time we had 40 kids come,” said Bachelor.

Campolindo alumni also served as a resource for student during the UC campus visit. “Not only do [students] get the general admissions talk that admissions officers give them, but they have student tour guides to tour around the campus and tell them all the different majors and things they offer, but then they also hear first hand from Campo alumni – how they’re doing, what they like, what they don’t like.”

Junior Kate Hardimann said having the opportunity to speak to alumni was helpful. “They had some really interesting insight regarding college majors, the application process, and how Campo prepares you really well for college,” she said.

“It’s not always easy to tour campuses while students are there, so being able to see students during a typical day really helped me see what the culture at UC Davis is like,” Hardimann added.

Not everyone was enthralled with the UC Davis campus. Josiah Smyrl said, “It was very farming and agriculture oriented. Also, I didn’t understand what an ‘Aggie’ is. However, viewing a school that I didn’t enjoy gave me a better view of what I do want, so it ended up being helpful. I saw a lot of aspects I didn’t want. UC Davis was not diverse at all, and I saw white as the majority race. However, the food was really good and I realized a good cafeteria is very important to me.”

“Going on a college campus tour made it more real to me that I would be going to college next year. I stepped onto UC Davis and it hit me that I would be on my own, on a college campus. It just would not be UC Davis,” Smyrl said.

Batchelor hopes to continue tours in the future. “I think more exposure is better so right now we’re tying to set up one with Sonoma State, ideally I’d like to do San Fransisco State. We’ll do DVC and Berkeley; we always do those trips in the spring,” she said.