Montana Tech Prospectors : Tech’s ambassadors

A visit to Montana Tech’s campus is a critical piece of enrolling as a future Oredigger. According to the Admissions Office, 80% of students who visit campus apply to Montana Tech, and of those who apply, 60% go on to enroll.

A huge piece of that visit process is possible thanks to the Montana Tech Prospectors, who serve as student ambassadors. The Prospectors welcome thousands of visitors to campus each year and take them on both general and personalized tours, highlighting the University’s strong points to visitors, school groups, incoming staff and faculty, and prospective students. Prospectors are expected to give at least 10 tours per semester, assist with two campus events, and visit local high schools for recruitment efforts. They receive two jackets for their efforts, and are also provided with team bonding and professional development opportunities, usually in a fun retreat format.

“Prospectors are crucial to our campus visit program because they give a student’s perspective on the University and allow visiting students to connect with someone before enrolling in classes,” Communication and Events Coordinator Shelby Baker said. “It also gives current students an outlet to show support and love for Montana Tech.”

There have been many iterations of the Prospector program over the past decades, but the most recent reboot came in 2020, when Chancellor Les Cook committed funds to the Admissions Office’s vision. Baker and the Admissions Office supervise the Prospectors in training and day-to-day activities. From 2021 to March 2025, Prospectors gave tours to 2,515 prospective students, not including those who took a large group tour with their school.

“Student-to-student interaction is essential in campus visit programs and can be enormously influential in the decision-making process for prospective students,” Cook said. “We know if we can get students to visit campus, we have a good chance of them enrolling. Prospective students are smart and savvy and seek an honest and authentic opinion about the Montana Tech experience. Our prospectors provide this. They are the face and often the voice of Montana Tech and I couldn’t be more proud of their work.”

Lily Kemmer is an Environmental Engineering junior from Colstrip, Montana. She says visiting campus as a high school senior played a big role in her decision to attend the University.

“Montana Tech was the only school I toured. Everyone was really inviting,” Kemmer said. “The Prospector on the tour was super nice and I loved Butte.”

Kemmer found her place on campus and is in her second year of serving as a Prospector. Originally a Petroleum Engineering major, Kemmer’s goals changed when she learned about research in the Environmental Engineering department that focuses on growing filtration membranes from kombucha. Kemmer joined the research team, and it’s something she highlights on her tours with students.

“As a high school senior, I didn’t know undergraduate students could do research, so I try to tell visiting prospects all the options,” Kemmer said.

Kemmer also tries to emphasize the opportunities available to women. “I feel like it is important to let people know how many women are in STEM here, because I was nervous coming to an engineering school where there are more men than women,” Kemmer said. “I wondered if I would find friends. What I found is there are a lot of women here and I made friends with many of them.”

Kemmer says the hardest part of leading tours is learning to walk uphill backwards. She has found that every tour is unique.

“Sometimes you get groups that are super chatty, and other times they hang with their parents and are super shy,” Kemmer said. “Whenever I talk about the engineering program they usually get pretty excited about all the different options they have. We try to get them excited about everything we can do around Butte.”

Mechanical Engineering senior Evan Guengerich says he emphasizes the benefits of a small campus on his tours.

“We are lucky to have a campus where you can run from one end to the other in five minutes,” Guengerich said.

The tight-knit atmosphere of Montana Tech is part of what led him to enroll. He toured another, larger campus in Colorado, but the Gardiner High graduate says Montana Tech felt more like home.

“I love the idea of being at a small college after coming from a small high school,” Guengerich said. “It was a huge plus for me.”

When he gives tours, Guengerich wants to provide visitors with a personalized and positive experience.

“We are the face of the University,” Guengerich said. “We are ideally some of the first students that you meet, and we give you a lighthearted, fun tour. The main point is to show visitors a friendly face. A lot of these students are scared and they are introverted, and they are with their parents. The point is to make college not scary, and I’m always excited to give a tour and brag about Montana Tech.”