A Maryland senior who leads campus tours during the academic year and works as a camp counselor in the summer is sharing her love of both in a new ice cream flavor at the Dairy.

Dining Services has unveiled “Let’s Tour S’more,” a limited-run creation based on the campfire treat and inspired by education major Ally Lansey.

As an employee of the university’s official welcoming group, Maryland Images, Lansey invites prospective students and parents to sample some of the university’s famous homemade ice cream in the Dairy. After talking one day earlier this summer about Mochalotta Mote, the flavor created to honor President Dan Mote’s retirement, she and fellow guides wondered what ice cream flavor they’d create to recognize their work for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

Ally Lansey

“That night I started thinking of names that rhyme and flavors they didn’t have. I work at a sleepaway camp in the summer, so I thought of s’mores,” she says.

Lansey came up with Let’s Tour S’more, which would combine chocolate, marshmallow and graham crackers with vanilla ice cream. She brought the idea to Barbara Gill, the office’s assistant vice president, who saw an opportunity to highlight a student’s initiative and Maryland’s priority application deadline of Nov. 1. She took the idea to Linda Clement, vice president for student affairs, who then connected Gill with Joe Mullineaux, senior associate director of Dining Services.

“My first thought was what a great flavor!” says Mullineaux. “Add to that a daughter who is starting to look at colleges … the way the outside world perceives a school is in sharp focus. Combining ice cream, one of Maryland’s greatest traditions, with the role admissions has as a window on our campus seemed like a natural partnership.”

The result, handcrafted by Jeff Russo, head pastry chef, features swirls of chocolate and marshmallow fluff and graham cracker bits. It will be available through Nov. 1.

“It’s something to smile about while I’m stressed,” says Lansey, who is student teaching in a Prince George’s County school.

Peggy Tiffany, assistant director of visitor services for undergraduate admissions and the Imagers supervisor, says Lansey and her nearly 100 or so fellow Imagers are also helping to create a marketing campaign to promote the new flavor. Tour guides will sport T-shirts with “Tours Have Never Been So Sweet” on the front and “Let’s Tour S’More” with a cartoon ice cream logo on the back. There also will be coupons for visitors, posters in the dining halls and other materials.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s pretty phenomenal,” says Tiffany.

For Lansey, it’s a cherry on top of a good undergraduate experience. “I’ve made so many great friends in Imagers, and this is a great school.”