Matthew Ragan, a former Camp War Eagle counselor, knows his way around Auburn, and he is here to help the newest members of the Auburn Family learn how to go about navigating campus.
Ragan is a junior from Senoia, Georgia, and is double majoring in finance and business management.
As part of his training to be a counselor, Ragan had to memorize a map of campus and take tests every week to ensure that he knows where each building is and what is in it.
One good way to learn your way around campus is to reach out to counselors from Camp War Eagle and Successfully Orienting Students, Auburn’s orientation programs, who are accessible to everyone, Ragan said.
“Just ask anybody, really, because we’ve all been lost on this campus at one time or another, and we all know what it’s like — except for Haley,” Ragan said.
Ragan repeated a refrain common among both current students and graduates: Haley will be confusing until the day you die.
“Learn your route to class and walk that same route every time, and you do not venture,” Ragan said of the Haley Center. “You just walk to it and walk right back out.”
Another resource that Ragan recommended for navigating campus is Google Maps’ walking feature, which he used to find classes as a freshman.
He also suggested the Auburn Guides app, in which students can download different guides and maps of Auburn.
Being from out of state, Ragan had a difficult time adjusting to campus. He learned his way around by finding specific routes to his classes. He made the Student Center his starting point because it is in the center of campus.
“And there’s also a lot of food here (the Student Center), so if you get lost, you can just stop and eat because why not?” Ragan said.
He would learn his way from where he lived to the Student Center and from there, to Parker Hall, where he had a calculus class.
After learning these routes, Ragan started to connect them, wandering campus to become familiar with the layout.
“When I had a long break between classes, I wouldn’t take the quickest route,” Ragan said. “This may sound crazy because the Haley Concourse can be overwhelming, but I loved it. Sometimes it was not on my path at all, but I would walk down the Haley concourse just so I could see people and say hey and get free stuff.”
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