Meet your virtual tour guide

by Marlo Benning
marlo@inhnews.com
The next best thing to being at Concordia College in Moorhead for a tour may be local Bertha-Hewitt graduate Adam Voge walking you through the campus from the comfort of your home.
How could this be?
If you have a computer with internet capabilities, it’Äôs as easy as typing in www.cord.edu/experience. Voge, along with four other Concordia students, will pop up on your screen ready and waiting to be chosen to lead you through some of the hot spots on the college grounds.
Simply pull down Voge’Äôs tour from the ’Äúvisit campus’Äù icon and it’Äôs as though you are right there by his side.
The highlights of his virtual tour include the bell tower and its legends, a glimpse into student life as he notes the success of Concordia graduates out in the world, the residence halls and the Knutson Campus Center which is the hub for daily meals and chapel time.
Voge is a 2007 graduate of B-H, who is currently double majoring in English with an emphasis in journalism and communication studies emphasizing in mass media.
He is currently taking classes in broadcasting, which may have helped him earn the much sought after tour guide role. About 60 others auditioned, ten were called back for a second audition and then it was narrowed down to five.
’ÄúThis doesn’Äôt have anything to do with my degree. I coincidentally am taking classes in broadcasting, so I think my past training and experience on camera really helped me to get one of the spots,’Äù Voge noted.
Shooting for the tour took about two to three hours per guide.
’ÄúI stood in front of a green screen and delivered my script to the camera. Most ’Äòtour stops’Äô took three or four takes for me.’Äù
He said that besides the individual shooting, they also had one group shoot that took a couple of hours. The entire process took about two months, with auditions in mid-October to the last shoot in December.
He worked with a director and crew from Sundog (a marketing and production group based in Fargo) throughout the process.
’ÄúWe had to do an emergency re-shoot to add a couple of things the director thought would help last week. It was pretty stressful since it was due on the internet in a week,’Äù he said on February 16.
The tour ’Äúpremiered’Äù on Monday, February 15 on the college’Äôs website and was celebrated on campus with an official world premiere party.
’ÄúMaking the tour itself was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the time I spent with everyone involved. It was a great experience to get to work with professionals and high-quality equipment. I hope it brings more awareness to Concordia College and convinces prospective students to visit. Concordia is really my second home and I can’Äôt imagine being anywhere else. It would be great if the tour could inspire more students to see Concordia the way I do.’Äù
Voge first began to pursue his interest in communications at the Independent News Herald as a summer intern and is now the sports editor for The Concordian on campus and is the sports director for their student-led TV program, Concordia On-Air. He also works part-time as a production assistant at Prairie Public Television in Fargo.