North Texas Daily

Universities rely heavily on marketing to get the students they want and keep up with the competition. One of the best tactics is getting the student to look at the campus.

Sixty-one percent of UNT students said in a Twitter poll of 155 people that they chose to attend the school after coming to see it. Thirty-nine percent said they chose to attend without touring campus.

The UNT Eagle Ambassadors are given the responsibility of leading tours for prospective students, transfer students, graduate students, or anybody who is interested in seeing UNT.

Jennifer Reif has been in the position of Director of Visitor Experience since 2001. Reif understands the jobs of the Eagle Ambassadors very well, she herself was a part of the third cohort of Eagle Ambassadors when she was a student at UNT.

On Friday, April 21, Eagle Ambassador Travis Green takes his tour group around campus to show guests the array of departments and facilities at UNT. The vehicles like this one that are used by the tours program are electrically powered and seat up to 11 people. Katie Jenkins

The Eagle Ambassadors were established in 1998 after research done by communication and marketing office produced a result on how to best appeal to prospective students.

“The study showed that prospective students wanted to hear from people their own age instead of administrators,” Reif said. “We were one of the first school in the country to put the resources toward creating an ambassador group.”

The campus tours and events will be directed to the new tour center that is being built right next to Kerr Hall and will be completed in the fall of 2018. Reif said she is looking forward to the new tour center since it could provide the opportunity to host the group tours and prospective students in a new way that has never been possible before.

The new tour center will include many new features such as a mock dorm room. Reif said this will be extremely useful since it will draw touring traffic away from the dorms and let them see the rooms without having to interrupt the students.

When the group was originally created, there were 13 ambassadors, today there are 25.

Travis Green, a senior marketing major, is one of current 25 Eagle Ambassadors. Green leads tours every day.

“I got involved through the Eagle Ambassadors as a sophomore. It’s a lot of fun and I get to meet people, it’s taught me a lot about customer service skills and interpersonal skills,” said Green.

Green said being an Eagle Ambassador has taught him how to love UNT. He believes that there is a lack of school spirit on campus, and it is difficult to get students excited about being a part of the school.

This makes his job as a tour leader of UNT important, he must sell the school to potential students.

Green lead a tour on Friday around 3:00, and despite malfunctions with a tour golf-cart and a late family arrival, Green said he stayed optimistic and gave the family an entire tour of the campus when they arrived.

Throughout the tour, Green sold UNT to the family, speaking only positively of everything on campus. He said that while some may consider this fabrication, he has a genuine love of the campus and gives his honest opinion to the families he hosts for tours.

Eagle Ambassadors are required to have interpersonal skills and a great knowledge of the campus. With the school year drawing to a close, the upcoming enrollment of students for the 2017-2018 school year will show if the Eagle Ambassadors have done their job at selling UNT.

If students have questions for the Eagle Ambassadors, they can call 940-565-4104. The Eagle Ambassadors are also available to chat online through the Eagle Ambassador website from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.

Featured Image: Eagle ambassadors man the desk for the tours program, located in the Eagle Student Services Center. The Ambassadors are selected by the program to run the campus tours and introduce guests to UNT. Katie Jenkins