The art of walking backward

Inside Albert Emanuel Hall, home to the Office of Recruitment and Admission, dozens of student ambassadors spend every shift refining the perfect UD campus tour. 

One of their most impressive skills is their ability to guide families through campus backward. Without looking, campus tour guides know how to expertly maneuver questions and UD’s campus terrain at once.  

So what happens when something doesn’t go according to plan? Hilarity ensues. 

Here are four unfortunate tour incidents that will make you want to schedule your next campus visit. 

Kira: The newbie

An often-overlooked part of giving campus tours is footwear. The winding 2-mile route that prospective students and families follow means sturdy shoes — and a little spatial awareness — are key.

Kira Yoakum ’24 knows this better than most. Freshly hired and trained her first year on campus, Yoakum was finding her stride — until she wasn’t. 

Walking backward down the Central Mall, her shoe snagged in a crack in the pavement. One moment, she was explaining how students can join clubs and intramurals at Up the Orgs, and the next — her shoe went flying, landing several feet away on the sidewalk.

Yoakum didn’t miss a beat.

“I continued to put on the show and walk backward like nothing happened,” she said.

Emme: The clumsiest

Emme Slaght ’25 is a bit of a legend when it comes to accidents on tour.

At the end of each school year, she was awarded the “clumsiest tour guide” superlative by her peers.

One clumsy moment came the day before spring break her junior year, when she was walking past Marianist Hall. Slaght, who does not have peripheral vision, was pointing out the bookstore when she walked backward into a pothole. 

“I fell so hard that a mom on tour had to help me up,” Slaght said. “I could barely walk the rest of the tour.” 

But, like the seasoned pro she was, she got right back up and finished — even if it was at a little slower pace. This was not the first nor the last time Slaght fell on tour, but it guaranteed she’d hold onto her title a little longer.

Robert: The two-fer-one

During the warmest months, the dedicated summer crew rotates daily tours beneath the sweltering heat, maneuvering around the campus cleaning and construction that usually takes place when students are away.

Robert Viox ’25 was nearly halfway through one of these tours when a typical backward step up the ramp in RecPlex turned out to be a false one, landing directly on a wet floor sign in his path.

The families he was leading were stunned, especially as the sound of the plastic sign echoed throughout as it hit the floor.

“They asked if I was OK,” Viox said, “and I said yes and made a joke that they purposely move things into our way over the summer.” 

He brushed off the misstep, continuing with his spiel without pause as he made his way into Marycrest. As he spoke about meal plan options, his upper body hit a chair stacked on top of a table, sending it crashing to the ground. 

Viox could only laugh it off, chalking it up to the unpredictability of summer tours.

KJ: The swatter

A good lesson for any tour guide: expect the unexpected. Former guide and Army ROTC student KJ Smith ’24 thought he was ready for anything — until he had to use hand-to-hand combat in the middle of a tour.

With a bee, that is.

As Smith led a group past Gosiger Hall, he gestured toward the building only to meet the tail end of a bee — and in perfect irony, got stung on the arm right outside the Student Health Center.

“I absolutely batted it into outer space,” Smith said. “[The family] was looking at me wide-eyed with their jaws dropped.”

Smith apologized and carried on.

“Even though I received a lot of training through the Army, I was not taught how to fight bees,” Smith laughed.