Student Spotlight: Passionate Mother on a Campus Tour

As the eternal Iowa winters begin to break for greener pastures and brighter days, you can bet that the university is capitalizing on it like you wouldn’t believe. And what better way to make money than offering tours to prospective juniors and accepted seniors? Cutting all these programs is only enough to finance a couple meals at the “Blazing Hibachi” food truck.

Tours are back in full force after spring break, but these enthusiastic tourists aren’t just wide-eyed highschoolers. As a few tour guides could tell you, some parents seem just as likely to start attending next fall semester.

Tara Harasway is proud to be a (potential) Hawkeye mom. In her dining hall visit, she was sure to grill the student worker within an inch of their life. How many swipes? What is a flex swipe? How many flex swipes? What do you mean they won’t have flex swipes anymore?

After the line had been thoroughly backed up, Harasway fought tooth and nail for a table. As many students who’ve braved the dining hall can say, there is nothing as fruitless as fighting someone’s mom for a table. Her family gathered food from just about every corner of the dining hall, and by the time they settled down, it looked like a Thanksgiving feast out of a Rockwell painting.

All of this energy was then used to grill the tour guide within an inch of their life as well.

Harasway and other potential Hawkeye families are an essential part of the admission process. They form support nets and are sure to check in on those they care about most. But man, those student employees. You brave soldiers.