After weeks of buildup and promotion, Jackson Prep launched a new feature to the school’s website on Monday, April 10:  a virtual tour of the entire campus with the multi-media technology company YouVisit. Intended to reach students who are possibly moving from out of state, who lack the resources or time to come to the school in person, or who simply want to visit the school discreetly, this tour strives to create essentially the same experience as an actual on-site visit.

The tour may be accessed directly at www.youvisit.com/tour/jacksonprep.

According to the school’s official press release, this tour “leverages the power of virtual reality to reach students and helps familiarize them with Prep’s campus by offering unlimited access and the opportunity to self-direct and control how they experience Prep’s campus.”

Jackson Prep Head of School Dr. Jason Walton became interested in the idea of a virtual tour for Jackson Prep after meeting an executive of YouVisit at a conference he was attending and recognized the uniqueness that a virtual tour would bring to a high school, as the only other school of any level in the state of Mississippi to have something like this is Jackson State University. With this addition, Prep joins prestigious schools to have a function such of this on their website, including Harvard, Yale, and Brown.

In a statement regarding this new virtual tour, Dr. Walton said, “The way students and their families learn about schools is changing, and Prep always wants to stay ahead of the curve in the way we reach out to potential students. This website is a tool that will help promote our school to students in the metro area, families relocating to our area from other states, and to international students interested in attending Jackson Prep. This site allows any prospective student the opportunity to see our beautiful campus and learn more about what Prep has to offer regardless of where they are. The goal of this site is for students to feel at home before they even arrive.”

There are other potential uses, as well. Senior Sarah Riley Jicka noted, “I have a friend coming to Prep from France, and I am excited that he has the opportunity to tour Prep before even stepping foot on American soil.”

The link to this tour is featured right in the center of the website’s homepage, and as soon as one clicks on the icon, he or she is taken immediately to the front entrance of Jackson Prep’s campus as if he or she had just walked arrived at the school in person. This is the beginning of the tour, which is a first-person experience that goes all throughout every facility on campus.