Being a Loomis Chaffee tour guide might require you to wake up in time for a tour at 8:30 am when you could have had a sleep-in, or wake up at 9 am to give a tour – on a Saturday! But being the first official contact with prospective families; seeing the nervous smiles on their faces, to me, makes everything worth it. 

Being a tour guide is more than knowing important facts like when the school was founded (1914), the names of the academic buildings, or how many dorms there are. It is about connecting with prospective families, sharing your own perspectives and experiences, and revealing all that Loomis has to offer.

Now, with the amount of hard work our LC tour guides put in, we’ve been asked what we get out of it. Frankly, not that much. Except for a pretty cute Loomis beanie that says “LC TOUR GUIDE,” and the constant supply of candy in the admissions office, we haven’t received a substantial amount of physical rewards. However, I don’t mind having only a cute beanie and candy because being a tour guide is more about how I make people feel, and how I give back to the community.

Being a tour guide, I get the chance to meet new people and share my experiences at Loomis, which have been great so far. I also get to share my opinions – I have a lot! – and my passion for Loomis. It makes me so happy that I get to relay that part of my life to people who likewise desire to attend Loomis Chaffee.

I love Loomis, and I’m not saying that because I’m a tour guide or because this article is written for the Log. I’m saying this because I actually do. The community and the warmth of the school, and I don’t mean the weather, makes my long school days seem shorter. Cliché? I know.

When I applied for Loomis, because of time conflicts with Loomis and my school in Nigeria, I couldn’t tour the school. But after doing substantial research and countless inquiries, I chose to come to Loomis, which was a great choice. So far, I can say that Loomis has positively surprised me, and I want to share my experiences as an international boarding student to visiting families. 

Because I didn’t take a tour, and I know how it feels to come to a new, different environment without knowing too much, this experience has inspired me to put a lot of effort into letting the families I tour have the most insight they can (in 45 minutes) into life at Loomis.

So yes, being a tour guide takes up four of my frees in a seven-week cycle, a couple of Saturday mornings, but the smile of appreciation on families’ faces, and the chocolate from the admissions office makes it worthwhile for me. I’ll like to say that it is a time well spent in serving our Loomis community.