It is not every day that a professional film crew makes its way to Silver City. This fall, though, Western New Mexico University will be in front of the lens on the TV series “The College Tour.” The first college or university in New Mexico to be on the show, WNMU will be the sole focus of the half-hour episode, scheduled to be available for streaming next spring.
Now in its 10th season, “The College Tour” is a TV series created by Emmy-nominated and multi-award-winning producers. The series tells the story of colleges and universities across the country. Each episode of “The College Tour” focuses on a single college or university. Hosted by Alex Boylan, who won CBS’s “Amazing Race” at age 23 and has gone on to have a highly successful career both in front of and behind the camera, the show features college students telling their own stories. The series can be watched on Amazon Prime and other streaming services.
“The idea for ‘The College Tour’ came to me from my 16-year-old niece. Because of the pandemic and finances, she wasn’t able to travel to tour colleges,” said Boylan, “So using our skills as executive producers we created a series inspired by her and millions of other young people who are interested in attending college. This series is so fun to produce!”
The crew of “The College Tour” will be filming on campus November 6-10. To prepare for their visit, WNMU is currently holding auditions for ten students to be featured on the show. Selected students will be guided by the production team of “The College Tour” this fall as they write and practice their own scripts in preparation for filming.
By teaming up with the series, WNMU will have an opportunity to highlight its strong academic programs and services and to give a national audience a taste of what life is like on campus and its surroundings. WNMU Director of Undergraduate Admissions and Recruitment Andrew Lunt sees the partnership with “The College Tour” benefitting the students involved, the university, and the southwest New Mexico community. “Students will have an opportunity to tell their own stories and work with a professional production crew, WNMU will have a chance to spread the word about the good work that is being done here, and Silver City and Grant County will benefit by having the spotlight shine on our beautiful corner of New Mexico,” said Lunt.
More information about the collaboration between WNMU and “The College Tour” and about the student casting process can be found here.
Audition for College Tour