IU guides show students the way

He pulled up in a silver car, screeched to a halt and flagged down the two red-T-shirt-clad IU Guides standing by to ask for a campus map. They responded with directions as students en route to class shuffle by. This scenario was a common one for IU faculty member Kelly Kish, an IU Guide, as she helped students find their first classes of the semester. This is the third year IU Guides have been \non campus.\n“A few years ago when we first did it a lot of seniors would come up to us and say, ‘I wish you did this when I was a freshman.’ But now that those people are upperclassmen it’s kind of expected,” Kish said.\nKish is one of the 174 volunteers strategically placed on campus to help students find their way around campus during the first two days of class. The guides will be stationed at eight different sites, ranging from 10th Street to Third Street. \n Junior Jamal Miller, an IU Guide, was a freshman the first year the program was put \nin place.\n “Without a person in the (IU Guide) shirt I probably would have missed a class completely,” he said. \n Miller believes this freshman class has adapted well to the campus and sees practice as one reason why. \n“I did see a surprising amount of students walking around in groups looking for their classes a few days before, but there are still a lot of people that don’t know where they are going,” \nhe said. \nKish said that while many students do walk their class route in advance, things are different when it comes time for classes. \n“I think it’s really hard to walk around with your friends and nail down where things are,” she said. “Then the next day you wake up, leave your residence hall and try to get to class.” \nFreshman Sam Leffers did not find it difficult to navigate campus for the first time. \n“It seemed like everyone I talked to found their classes the day before,” he said. “I was the only one that didn’t, but it still wasn’t that hard.” \nCommon questions the guides receive range from street names, building locations, fastest routes and what building abbreviations stand for.\nIU Guides began as a joint venture between the Office of Orientation Programs and the IU Dean of Students Office. Today the program is run with almost 200 volunteers who alternate six different 90-minute shifts. \nThe sites remain similar to the first year, but volunteers fill out evaluations to determine if changes are necessary. Initially only staff, faculty and students were allowed to volunteer, but last year the door was opened to the local Monroe County Chapter of the IU \nAlumni Association. \nMiller believes students will get accustomed to the campus and bus routes and learn how to get around more efficiently as the year goes on.\n“Over time they will learn the bus system. As the heat dies down and they learn how long it takes to get there they’ll start using it more. It’s something they will catch on to,” Miller said.\nEach year volunteer numbers have increased, and that gives IU Guides coordinator Emily McCallister reason to believe the program will continue to serve the students better. \n“If we continue to keep increasing volunteers we’d like to add locations each year and cover more of the campus,” she said.\nMcCallister said she wants the program to be about more than just giving directions. The guides have maps, highlighter markers and pens, but they also have mints and candy to give to students. She said a warm welcome is a good way to usher in a new class of freshmen. \n“There is just that energy in the air on the first day of classes,” McCallister said. “So hopefully our guides will serve their duty and give directions but also do more than that. We want to welcome the newest members of our Hoosier family.”