WSU students featured in television series that tours campuses

After winning the second season of “The Amazing Race,” Alex Boylan could not stay away from television series documenting his travels. So when his niece wanted to tour colleges throughout the country, he came up with the idea for “The College Tour.”

The 11-season series features half-hour episodes touring campuses across the nation so anyone interested can see the schools from the comfort of their own home. And as of Thursday, Washington State University is one of more than 150 universities featured.

Chris Cordodor, WSU’s customer relations management CRM technology project manager, said it cost a lot of money for Boylan to help take his niece to colleges along the East Coast, especially with him living in Los Angeles and her living in Wisconsin, and they had limited time to make their way around the campus and city.

“They weren’t able to see all the things they wanted to be able to see or the college would have loved to show off while they were there because faculty weren’t around, or they couldn’t get into labs they wanted to see,” said Cordodor, who helped produce the show. “They just wouldn’t have that kind of direct interaction, so that’s where ‘The College Tour’ came from.”

WSU will now be part of the show, and out of 57 auditions, 10 students were selected to be featured in the episode released Thursday and represent the university in a variety of different ways, he said.

Each student has a segment in the video showing what WSU brought to them and what their experience has been like. And each student had the opportunity to bring their family to a premiere party on Wednesday to view the episode before it aired.

The students were all asked about their personal experiences afterward, including sophomore biology major Katelyn Smith, who always knew she was going to be a Coug because her alumni parents raised her as one.

Since her freshman year, Smith has tried to be as involved as possible on campus and is now a resident advisor, orientation counselor and a Cougar Connector giving tours of the campus, she said in a question-and-answer session after the viewing.

“I’ve had some amazing mentors … who would tell me it’s OK to ask questions,” she said. “When I asked questions, I was able to get involved more. I got more experiences, and people would connect me with others.”

Smith was able to meet with people at her first job on campus who helped her with another job, where she was able to connect with people from another organization, and she enjoyed being able to network and meet new people just because she asked a question.

Week of Welcome at WSU is wrapping up this week, and Smith said asking how to get involved on and off campus, and getting to know what events are happening, is a great way for freshmen to kickstart their college career.

Alongside the simple act of asking questions from the get-go, recent WSU alum Cameron Johnson advised being proactive about looking for leadership roles .

“If you ask one of your faculty members about an opportunity, they can either give you one, or most of the time, point you in the direction of someone that can,” he said.

Johnson became involved with “The College Tour” because when he came to WSU as a transfer student from California, there was not a lot of readily available information.

After talking to other students in similar situations, he realized he was not the only person who had this experience, so he wanted to put his voice out there to see if he could help people learn about WSU.

“It’s secluded. It’s kind of forgot about and not talked about sometimes,” Johnson said. “I just wanted to help get the name out there a little bit.”

The production of the show was a simple experience for Johnson because the producers made it easy.

Johnson said they helped him through the steps of what to wear and what to talk about. His segment of the episode focused on him and his experience.

Sophomore psychology major Emma Fairbourne had a similar experience, but being involved with the show still pushed her out of her comfort zone because she is not an actress. When she got to campus last fall, she wanted to be involved with something bigger, and “The College Tour” helped her accomplish just that.

Coming to WSU all the way from New Jersey, she knew she would have to put everything she had into the college experience, especially as a first-generation student.

“I knew I wanted to become more involved with my school and the community, and I think it’s really important to do that within your first year of school,” she said. “I think going on ‘The College Tour’ really helped me get outside of my comfort zone and try something I didn’t think I could do.”

Prior to the viewing of the episode, Fairbourne was nervous about how her segment was going to turn out, but she was looking forward to watching it with her family and friends.

Other students involved in the show include a transfer student from Guam, a recent graduate who worked with the bears on campus, a current law student, a senior who used her passion for music and culture to create a mariachi band, a student involved with the WSU Native American Student Center, a cheerleader and an upperclassman involved with Greek life.

“It was no small thing for them to do in the middle of being a student and everything else they had to do,” Cordodor said. “These are not actors. These are not people who are behind the camera very often, if at all, so this was a big thing for them, and we really want to show them our appreciation for what they did.”

WSU’s episode of “The College Tour” is now available on YouTube and will be available on Amazon Prime in October.