Prospective high school students weren’t the only people visiting Iowa State last week.

ISU Extension personnel from 24 counties toured the ISU campus April 3-5 as a part of the Road Scholars program.

The Road Scholars program began in the spring of 1992 as an effort by President Martin Jischke to introduce new ISU faculty and staff to the state of Iowa.

“Twice a year a bus load of faculty and staff take a two-day tour of some part of Iowa,” said John Anderson, interim director of university relations.

The program has been very successful, Anderson said. More than 200 ISU faculty and staff have become “Road Scholars.”

Extension personnel play a key role in the program because they assist in organizing the tours.

“This spring, in appreciation, President Jischke turned the tables and invited new extension staff to campus for a two-day tour to learn about the university,” Anderson said.

About 30 extension staff began their visit on April 3 with a reception at the Gateway Holiday Inn.

On April 4 the group took a mini-tour of the campus, led by Jischke, and visited the College of Agriculture, the College of Family Consumer Sciences, Parks Library and the Computation Center all before eating lunch at the Towers Residence Halls.

“I am a former Iowa State graduate and there has been lots of changes here in the past 20 years,” said Coletta Weeda, Crawford County extension education director from Denison.

On April 4 the group also visited the College of Design, the College of Education, the Ames Lab and IPRT followed by a reception at The Knoll and dinner at the Scheman Building.

On Saturday April 5, the group wrapped up their tour and visited the College of Veterinary Medicine, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the College of Business, the College of Engineering, the Leid Recreation Center and ate lunch at the Reiman Gardens.

“This is a great time for people to either learn about the state of Iowa or Iowa State University,” Anderson said.