IUGuides direct lost, confused students

No, there is not a shortcut to McNutt Quad.

While this might have been sad news for new students, IUGuides ­­— stationed on campus Monday and today ­­— are working to deliver good news for the lost, confused and flustered during the first week of classes.

“The guides are general resources on campus,” said Robert Rathbun, project manager for the Office of First Year Experience Programs. “They are definitely to help with navigation, but also some freshman can ask ‘Where can I get a bite to eat?’ They are a welcoming face.”

Rathbun said the first-year office, who organized the guides, is also working to promote IUMobile, the mobile-friendly application with campus and bus service maps.

Ben Monahan-Estes, a graduate student and orientation leader during the summer, stood outside the Music Annex on Monday to hand out maps and offer advice as a guide.

He is just one of the 200 volunteers working at 12 locations in 600 shifts during the first two days of classes — from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“I’ve had even professor-age ask for direction,” Monahan-Estes said. “Someone asked where the music building was. We have to ask them which music building they mean. There are people who fold up the map who don’t want us to know they have one.”

But while Monahan-Estes and his fellow guide, junior Chelby Tarver, both said most questions have involved directions to campus buildings, they’ve had to use common sense to help more special inquiries.

“If you think about it, people are new to campus, so who do you ask?” Monahan-Estes said. “You look official, so obviously they ask you. You’re wearing red, standing behind
a table.”

Tarver, a psychology and gender studies major, said she was asked where an elevator was in Sycamore Hall.

“When I was a freshman, I was lost a lot, and I still do get lost, but I know better now,” Tarver said. “It’s my duty as an upperclassman to help out.”

At about 11:30 a.m., a woman asked Monahan-Estes where she could get banking and financial help, while freshman Cameron Golman asked how far away his dorm was from his most recent class in the Lee Norvelle Theatre & Drama Center.

“I just get pointed in the right direction, I go, and I will hit something,” Golman said. “I haven’t used a bus yet. I’ve been on the buses, I dunno. Walking? Why not. Campus is beautiful.”

Golman said he was surprised to find how long it would take him to get back to McNutt — 15 minutes was Monahan-Estes’ guess.

“I’m just going to walk aimlessly in this direction,” Golman said, pointing north before heading off.

Despite the somewhat odd questions and the need to repeat information, alumnus Steve Dayton said volunteering as an IUGuide has been a great way to give back to the campus.

Dayton, who returned from his home in Washington, Ind., to volunteer for the fourth time, brought his daughter to help near the Indiana Memorial Union.

“It’s a great opportunity to come back on campus and help out,” Dayton said. “Hopefully we’ll keep coming back, and soon my daughter will be here.”