Everyone knows Stranger Things, but that’s not the only strange thing around campus. It may be hard to believe, but St. Joe’s very own Hawk Hosts have their own strange stories to share about their tours. We’ve all gone through this experience, but only as a prospective student. Now we get to know the inside scoop of what being a tour guide is really like.
I talked with four Hawk Hosts: Jessica Arnold, Madison Rojas, Alex Ventola and Stephanie Crispell, to gauge a sense of what their craziest experiences have been.
What’s the craziest thing that’s happened during your tour?
Jessica Arnold:
“A parent constantly kept asking me about the party scene and where all the kids go on the weekend.”
Alex Ventola:
“A family brought the little sister with them – she had to be eight. She asked me: What do you do on the weekends? I gave her my spiel about things to do on campus and then she’s like: No. What do you do on the weekends; you know what I mean. So I repeated myself and she says: No. I mean alcohol.”
Madison Rojas:
“On my first tour I had sandals on – they’re the kind that fall off your feet easily – and as I was walking backwards, while introducing myself, and my shoe comes flying off. I had to stop in the middle of the street to fix it.”
Stephanie Crispell:
“I was giving my Jesuit Education talk in the chapel when a student asked: Do you have funerals in the chapel? I said sure it’s a chapel, when suddenly a Jesuit walked past us and said: We can hold funerals here but many are held at the family’s parish. I was really caught off guard for such a depressing question.”
I asked Arnold about any embarrassing moments, and she said it would have to be when she’s talking at the corner of City and Cardinal near McShain, but as cars come by no one can hear her anymore.
When it comes to being confronted with anything weird, Crispell, says: “Someone asked me which hot chocolate was better: Einstein’s or Starbucks.”
For Ventola, he says: “Parents will sometimes ask on behalf of their son or daughter: Can they have their boyfriend or girlfriend stay over? And then the student is like: ‘Mom stop.’”
Yes, Stranger Things has swept through campus, but if you want to hear something interesting, find a Hawk Host and ask them for one of their stanger stories.
