Seniors Tour UVA- Wise

Some of the JIB Class of 2019 outside the UVA-Wise Student Center

by. Keaton Ingle, senior

Thirty students of John I. Burton senior class of 2019 visited UVA-Wise for a campus tour on Friday, Sept. 21. This was the first college tour for many seniors, who will soon be deciding their future plans. Most seniors have been to UVA before for other reasons; such as sporting and recreational events, however, this tour was more serious. The trip showed seniors what college is like and what the requirements would be to attend.

A college admission counselor from UVA-Wise showed the seniors around campus, starting with visiting the dorms and telling students some history about the college. The group made its way back to the C. Bascom Slemp Student Center, a place where college students can hang out between classes and participate in recreational activities. For example, the day we visited, there was a table set up for students to make S'mores. Then, we headed up to the academic part of campus which is on a hilltop, and looked at some of the buildings for each department where students attend classes.


The tour finished with students sampling the cafeteria food, which was fantastic. The menu included hamburgers, fries, a rice dish, Spanish dip, a salad bar, and ice cream. The hamburgers tasted amazing and were like those at Steak n' Shake's. Once we ate, we went and played some games in the student center to win some prizes, such as UVA-Wise t-shirts.

The trip showed us we didn't know everything about UVA-Wise. Most of us only knew a small part of what UVA-Wise has to offer. "It was really outstanding once he seen what it had too offer" Hunter, a senior that went on the trip, said. He was also impressed by how close nit everyone was and liked how the community was. Even though it was the first trip for us, I would say it won't be the last, and many of us will probably end up as students there in the future.