What do the approximately 50,000 people a year who pass through the Lodewick Visitors Center remember about their visit to UConn? Chances are pretty good that right at the top it’s the name of the student who took them on their campus tour.
Each year, executive program director Meg Malmborg assembles a cadre of motivated undergraduates who are eager to serve as LVC tour leaders. There are 40 ‘colleagues’ during the school year, and 12 in the summer. Their mission? To engage visitors in the ‘UConn experience’.
The tour leaders can recite facts and figures with ease – including average class size, number of majors, bus routes, and parking regulations – and provide valuable information concerning favorite professors and the nuances of obtaining prime on-campus housing. But perhaps the most important component of the experience is the positive impression left by the LVC colleagues themselves.
Given the skills of this home grown resource, Malmborg decided to offer these enthusiastic, knowledgeable tour guides an additional outlet for communicating with potential students and their families and with the University community at large. She asked the 12 who are here on campus this summer to blog about their activities on a site she named the UConn Welcome Mat.
So far, according to the fledgling bloggers, they’ve had great experiences and have found themselves taking an interest in things they might otherwise have ignored. And the best thing is, they’re learning to share these experiences in the blogosphere.
Nutritional sciences major Chivelle Blissett, who will start her sophomore year next semester, and mechanical engineering major James Anderson, a rising junior, have jumped into the blogosphere with both feet. Blissett, from Windsor, and Anderson, from Manchester, each have their own take on blogging. Anderson says, “It’s a good way for people to find out about new things without being as much of an advertisement as other methods [of contact].”
Blissett adds, “I never blogged before I became an LVC blogger, but I’ve had a chance to write about things I’d never thought about before. My personal favorite was when I went to ‘The Skin You’re In’ exhibit at the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History here on campus. If I hadn’t been blogging, I probably wouldn’t have bothered going, but I’m glad I didn’t miss it.”
“For summer 2010,” Malmborg says, “students are piloting the blog. We’re outlining what we’ll write about for each month in order to make sure we have varied topics. The blog’s first posting was May 5, and since then each of the summer students has posted at least one entry about their work at the LVC and things to do on campus. They’re eager to be a part of this, and the blog now has its own rhythm.”
Although Alana Wenick from Newtown already graduated, she is spending time on campus this summer living and working at UConn’s Spring Manor Farm, which was featured on the LVC blog on June 29.
Wenick says, “I never blogged before, but now that I’ve blogged for LVC I’ve begun blogging on my own. I’ve had some feedback from my friends about the UConn blog, and they’ve actually learned a few things about the campus. I think they’d like it to be more personalized, but we’re off to a great start.”
Alexandra Fitzpatrick is a pre-dental student from Sherman. She’ll enter her junior year in the fall and she started her own blog at just about the same time the Visitors Center launched the UConn Welcome Mat. She says the UConn site gave her the opportunity to blog about her five-day trip to Indiana to attend the Undergraduate Interfraternity Institute. “I love that we not only blog about all things UConn but also what the LVCers’ interests are, what we’re involved in, and the fun things we’re all doing this summer.”
Adds Malmborg, “The goal of this online diary is to chronicle and communicate the dynamic and interesting aspects of student life at the University. From the looks of things so far, the students are well on their way towards achieving this goal.”
