Counselor Chris Hartford now leads tour groups around campus of parents and students interested in Piedmont High. Tours with four to five families each are typically once a month.

Hartford said that what is shown on the tour is up to the people in the tour group and their interests. Hartford said he likes to walk by active classrooms, such as a science class doing a lab or an art class working on a project.

“My main goal is to give them a really accurate overview as what it feels like as far as activities, classes, lunchtime, and to answer any questions they have, which often tend to lead to college prep, like how our students are prepared for college,” Hartford said.

Hartford said that throughout the tour, he gets questions from the prospective students and parents.

“The toughest questions are things like ‘tell me about the experience of a new student to the district. Are they going to fit into a social group?’ because those are questions that are so dependent on the individual,” Hartford said.

Hartford said that the different types of families range in the tours. The families have children of all ages.

“I had a parent of a current eighth grader at the middle school. You would think that would be someone that wouldn’t even go on the tour, but they might have been trying to decide between here and a private school maybe,” Hartford said.

Since starting to give tours, Hartford said that has become interested in how the school reaches out to new students.

“For example, the ASB goes to the middle school to have an application for the two freshmen that represent ASB. So I was thinking, [how would a family coming from another city know about that?]” Harford said. “It emphasizes the importance of communication in a system like this. It is so hard to do it perfectly.”

Hartford said that people on the tour are generally most interested in all of the extra curricular activities and clubs offered in Piedmont.

“In a way you are sort of advertising the school,” Hartford said. “I think if you are just honest and explain to the best of your ability what the school is like then that’s the main goal.”