College resumes tours for prospective students

Augustana College is in the early stages of reopening its campus, and has begun welcoming prospective students and their families for campus tours.

Tours must be set up by appointment and are limited to one family at a time.

“We hear time and time again that the campus tour is one of the most important factors in a student’s college choice,” said Anna Castro, manager of campus experience. “It gives students a chance to imagine themselves here.”

Tours will be led by Augustana students and follow recommendations on social distancing and the wearing of face coverings from the state of Illinois and the Centers for Disease Control.

For students interested in touring campus virtually, the college offers a driving tour. Students can tune in to a student-led podcast tour from their vehicles. 

Since the college discontinued campus tours in March, 664 prospective students have participated in virtual tours. The college also launched a series of videos titled Tiny Tours.

“I'm incredibly proud of the creativity and flexibility of our team the last three months,” said Karen Dahlstrom, executive director of admissions. “We hosted virtual admitted student days, online faculty sessions, virtual tours, one-on-one video chats, online information sessions and college planning workshops, orientation events and more.”

Dahlstrom says the need to go virtual introduced the admissions office to ways to connect with even more students from across the country. The admissions office will continue to host virtual offerings.

In early June, Augustana’s custodial employees returned to campus and joined police, public safety, facilities and other essential departments that remained on campus during the stay-at-home order. The college’s custodial team has begun a deep cleaning of campus buildings that will continue through the summer. All employees will be screened before beginning their workday on campus.

The college plans to start in-person classes Aug. 31. The plan will continue to evolve over the summer, taking into consideration the recommendations of public health authorities.