Campus electrician becomes instant tour guide for visiting family

There’s no telling when any of us will be unexpectedly called upon to serve as a Fredonia “ambassador,” and that’s just the role that campus Electrician Orion Purslow graciously accepted on Friday, Aug. 23.

He was parked in his van outside of Dods Hall when a prospective student, who apparently missed a scheduled campus tour, approached him.

“She asked me where the (swimming) pool was and if Fredonia had a diving team,” Purslow recalled.

Instead of simply giving directions, Purslow escorted the student and her mother to the Natatorium. “They really liked the view from the top,” he said, and were thrilled that Purslow was able to actually take them down to the pool deck for an up-close look.  And, since they were nearby, Purslow also took them to the locker rooms and ice arena.

“She said the pool looked better than any other place they had visited,” Purslow noted.

But that wasn’t the end of the itinerary.

“They asked a lot of questions about the campus and the dorms, so I offered to show them,” Purslow continued. The ensuing whirlwind tour included stops at Mason Hall — because the student plans to study music — along with the Williams Center, Nixon Hall, and University Commons to see the bookstore, Cranston Marché and Starbucks. “I tried to explain things as best I knew how,” Purslow said.

Throughout the 40-minute journey, the student and her mother expressed concern that Purslow would get into trouble for spending so much time with them. “I told them I wouldn’t,” Purslow said. “It was no problem at all.”

His genuine hospitality apparently convinced the pair, who had traveled more than eight hours from their home near the Canadian border, that SUNY Fredonia was the right choice for them. “They said they changed their minds about coming here,” Purslow remembered.

But Purslow doesn’t think what he did was all that special or unusual. “We just walked around and talked. It wasn’t much different from what anyone else would have done,” Purslow said. “All of us are asked to help out students from time to time.”

Though he’s only worked at SUNY Fredonia for four years, Purslow’s knowledge of the campus and the pride that he has for it made a strong impression on these two visitors, serving as a great reminder that we all can have a profound impact on tomorrow’s students — and leaders.