This is truly off topic, but I always find this stuff interesting–Granville (where Denison is located) is right around the border where various glaciers stopped. Licking County in general is a sort of transition zone where different glacial events stopped different places. Map here if you are interested:
So that is why everything was basically smooshed much flatter to its west (around Columbus proper and such), but it is consistently hilly to the east (towards Zanesville and eventually into West Virginia and on).
My C25 is like that, too—I joke-not-joking, for those of you who know from the old Dungeons & Dragons alignment matrix, that that’s my lawful neutral child.
(Which one would think would have been easier to raise than my chaotic neutral C23. Yep, I totally would have thought that, wouldn’t I? But I know better now.)
But I am not sure my kids appreciate how when driving over any sort of distance, I will always make a point of explaining whenever we are moving between different topographic zones, why the native vegetation has changed, which watershed we have just entered, what sort of second-person plural pronoun construction the locals use and how that relates to the local European immigration history and how THAT relates to the topography, and so on.
I didn’t know that, but it does help explain things. I remember the first time we visited Denison, we were so surprised to see this hill pop up in the middle of the fields, with the college up on top. Granville is generally an interesting place for such a tiny town. There were originally two Granvilles, the township, which came first and was founded by Welsh settlers, and the village, which was founded by a group that moved from Granville, Massachusetts (which explains why the town still looks just like a New England village). And, of course, before either of those groups, there were Native Americans, who left behind several notable mounds, including the Alligator Mound in Granville.
Did all groups tour the same departments? I can see them splitting off the engineers and showing them the East Campus which is mostly advanced engineering and has the new aero building with specialized labs. It’s far enough that you’d have to take a bus to get there and back in a reasonable amount of time. Also the case (take a bus) to get to Willie Villi (dorms) but if they are showing model dorm rooms they may not take you all there.
If everyone was walking, you were definitely getting your steps in just doing the main part of campus.
Yes, everyone toured the same places - the academic building we all went into was, I believe, the physics building. The guide mentioned Will Vill and the bus but just showed us the dorm buildings around Farrand
Field. They had separate departmental tours for a number of the schools - we did our one later in the day, and there were also ones for engineering, aerospace (separate from the general engineering tour), music and business that I remember seeing on the options list.
Random thought: have you looked at Rhodes College? Architecture is beautiful gothic. Student body is similar to Denison, in my mind. Located in a leafy part of Memphis - a real city that might be too big for your child, but might be interesting?
For what it’s worth, my tour guide kid at a school that lets families choose reports that she and her guide friends are ecstatic when they get a small group. In their mind, allows for a much better tour. And they all have experience with big days and small days. Probably would feel different if one person was always small.
It must be the catholic school thing. Mine had the same issue until a tour of Hamilton.
Our assigned guide was earnest but really bad. They tried really hard but just couldn’t get it done. My DD said not interested and was ready to leave. We got her to hop into a passing group with a very dynamic and engaging kid who was regaling the group with a story about some kids starting a bbq club so they could get a free grill.
He was engaging, loved Hamilton and it really showed. We spent time exploring after the tour and my kid went from ready to leave to loving the place.
It just shows that small things can make big impressions.
)