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Social studies teacher Connor Katsev leads tours through St. Louis for colleagues and tourists. Katsev, who received his guide certification in November 2025, has always been passionate about sharing St. Louis history with others. “I truly do have a passion,” Katsev said. “I grew up in St. Louis, have taught the subject on and off for 10 years now, and enjoy walking the neighborhoods.”
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Social studies teacher Connor Katsev leads tours through St. Louis for colleagues and tourists. Katsev, who received his guide certification in November 2025, has always been passionate about sharing St. Louis history with others. “I truly do have a passion,” Katsev said. “I grew up in St. Louis, have taught the subject on and off for 10 years now, and enjoy walking the neighborhoods.”
Q: How long have you been a tour guide for St. Louis?
A: I was trained in [the] summer [of] 2025 and fall of 2025, and started giving tours in November 2025.
Q: What motivated you to do this job?
A: For me, I truly do have a passion for St. Louis history. I grew up in St. Louis, have taught the subject on and off for 10 years now, and enjoy walking the neighborhoods. It was a way for me to earn a little extra money on the side as well as bring new information and ideas into the classroom.
Q: Did you need to do any sort of training for the tour? What did that entail?
A: The training involved me going on four to five tours led by other See STL tour guides and providing feedback on what I liked and noticed these tour guides doing. Also, I had to design a test tour and give it to these tour guides. My test tour was called “Beyond Big Bend,” and looked at the history of a few street corners near Washington University running, you guessed it, next to Big Bend Boulevard. After this tour, I was cleared to start giving my own.
Q: Could you describe how a typical tour would go? How frequently did you do it, and how many people are you touring?
A: Typically, there are anywhere from five to 10 people for a tour. We all introduce ourselves, and I go over some basic introductions, what the tour will entail and any other details I think are important before we start. As we go along, generally people are respectful of not interrupting me if I am talking, but it usually gets into a nice flow and feels more conversational rather than top-down. I enjoy these tours the most, where the audience is engaged and asking me questions. I try to give the University City Loop Tour once a month.
Q: You tour primarily within the University City loop. What’s the most interesting thing about this tour for you?
A: I think one of the most interesting things on the University City loop tour is what is hidden inside City Hall in University City. The building is unique itself, a five-story Baroque Renaissance-Revival structure that houses the town hall meetings on the elegant fifth floor. However, sitting atop the building inside the cupola is a searchlight over 100 years old. University City still uses the searchlight to this day. Why it is there and what it was used for is a story you’ll have to hear on one of my tours.
![Team representatives Hotaru Murashita (11) and Regina Copeland (10) play rock paper scissors for the winning prize. The club hopes to continue to implement new meetings every year. “About a month ago, we pitched [the idea], and Madame Milford helped us obtain the croissants and jams,” Secretary Arlo Ziolkowski (11) said.](https://laduetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/FHS-April-8-1200x900.jpg)
