WSU students have appeared in television series touring campuses

The 11-season series features half-hour episodes that tour campuses across the country 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, CRM technology project manager for customer relationship management at WSU, said it cost a lot of money for Boylan to help get his granddaughter to colleges along the East Coast, especially because he lives in Los Angeles and she lives in Wisconsin, and they’ve had a limited amount of time to make their way around the campus and the city.

“They didn’t get to see all the things they wanted to be able to see or the college would have liked to see while they were there because there weren’t any professors around or they couldn’t get into the labs they wanted to he sees them. ,” 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 that shows what WSU has brought to them and what their experience has been like. And each student had the opportunity to bring their family to a premiere party Wednesday to watch the episode before it aired.

The students were all asked about their personal experiences afterward, including biology major Katelyn Smith, who always knew she would be a Coug because her graduate 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, guidance counselor and a Cougar Connector who gives campus tours, she said in a question-and-answer session after the viewing.

“I had some wonderful mentors … who would tell me it was okay to ask questions,” she said. “When I asked questions, I was able to get more involved. I got more experiences and people connected me with others.”

Smith was able to meet people at her first job on campus who helped her with another job where she was able to connect with people in another organization and enjoyed being able to and to meet new people just for asking a question.

Welcome Week at WSU wraps up this week, and Smith said asking how to get involved on and off campus, and finding out what events are happening, is a great way for freshmen to start their college career.

Beyond the simple act of asking questions early on, recent WSU graduate Cameron Johnson advised being proactive in looking for leadership roles.

“If you ask one of your faculty members about an opportunity, they can either give you one or more often than not point you in the direction of someone who can,” he said.

Johnson got involved with “The College Tour” because when he came to WSU as a transfer student from California, there wasn’t much information readily available.

After talking to other students in similar situations, she realized she wasn’t the only person who had this experience, so she wanted to put her voice out there to see if she could help people learn about WSU.

“It’s isolated. It’s kind of forgotten and not talked about sometimes,” Johnson said. “I just wanted to help out a little bit with the name.”

Producing the show was a simple experience for Johnson because the producers made it easy.

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

Emma Fairbourne had a similar experience, sophomore psychology teacher, but being involved in the series still pushed her out of her comfort zone, as she is not an actress. When she arrived on campus last fall, she wanted to get involved in something bigger, and “The College Tour” helped her accomplish just that.

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

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

Before watching the episode, Fairbourne was nervous about how her segment would 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 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 in the WSU Native American Student Center, a cheerleader and an upperclassman involved in Greek life.

“There was little for them to do in the middle when they were students and all they had to do,” Cordodor said. “These are not actors. These aren’t people who get 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’ve done.”

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