After Telling Prospies That Penn is a Happy Place, Penn Tour Guide Goes for Their Scheduled Cry in Narrow Huntsman Stall

Jon Vidal (C '18) has given tours with Kite and Key since the spring of his freshman year. While his participation began as a genuine desire to show a school he loved to prospective students, over the years he has lost himself in the process. 

After the rush of a freshman year where he gained a sense of autonomy from parental control, studied fascinating subjects like Russian Literature and Spanish Cinema, Jon's enthusiasm for Penn's culture began to fade. He transferred from Econ in the College to Finance in Wharton. As one does. 

Instead of finding new spots for coffee around campus, Jon began seeking out spots to cry covertly, without damaging how others perceived his masculinity. 

Jon kept on giving tours. He emphasized small class sizes, campus safety, and told the story about the button popping off of Ben's shirt, growing to full size and splitting in half. The whole nine yards. But then, he would shimmy over to Huntsman Hall, sit in a cold, narrow stall and bawl in his fave campus spot for a set seven and a half minutes. 

"There are four Starbucks on or near campus!," he had told prospective students just minutes before. "I've cried in all of them. Even the Drexel one," Jon confided in our UTB correspondent. 

Jon dreams of giving alternative campus tours where he shows high school students and their families all of the spots where he has cried during his time at Penn. He would highlight Van Pelt basement as a must-visit spot. Fisher Fine Arts would be called out for their intolerance of sniffles. Visits to College Hall, Williams, and Steiny-D would complement his narration of times where he held back tears in classroom spaces.