Richmond, KY - The Eastern Kentucky University Admissions office has added a trolley to the university’s admissions tour, breaking down the four-lane barrier of the bypass to show prospective students all the campus offers.
Eastern has been using the 23-seat trolley since February to show students more than the traditional walking tour can offer. Prior to adding the trolley, admissions didn’t give prospective students a tour of anything outside of the inner loop of central campus near the Powell, Combs and Keen Johnson buildings, said Brett Morris admissions director.
The trolley comes at a time when enrollment continues to grow at other state institutions while Eastern’s student population has fallen by a little less than 1 percent. Morris said the university is the only institution he knows of that is using a trolley to showcase campus facilities.
Tours take about two hours to complete and happen twice daily at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., with no afternoon tour on Fridays. Each tour will continue to include the walking portion of the tour on central campus. Up to 46 people can take a tour at once, but the groups are split in two and one group walks while the other group takes the trolley.
Students and their families had to take a shuttle or drive to visit other areas of campus such as Fitness and Wellness Center, the Justice and Safety building, Business and Technology Center, and the Center for the Arts said Candice Graves, a biology sophomore who also works as Colonel Captain and is responsible for giving tours to new students.
“A lot of students come here for the Justice and Safety [and other programs across the bypass],” Graves said. “Before the trolley, we couldn’t go over there. We can show what happens visually without them not seeing it.”
Eastern purchased the trolley from Cable Car Concepts of Cape May, N.J. for $57,000 and then sent it to Florida for the handicap accessibility modifications. After painting the trolley white and adding EKU colors and logos, it is now up and running. Morris said 5,000 students visit Eastern each year and many of them will now get to see the other side of campus.
“We want them to see all of the things we have to offer at Eastern,” Morris said. “We want them to realize there is a lot of quality here.”
Morris said the trolley should help students perception of the university based on the visit and tries to make the campus visit experience first rate. He said Eastern is changing its marketing strategies and admissions policies to ensure the success of future students.
“Our goal is to make sure our students get an education,” Morris said. We do so many things well; we just need to show them off as best as we can.”
Prospective students can schedule visits at admissions.eku.edu/visit.