ParentNET
A slice of campus life written by an MTU student

Clad in gold, Michigan Tech faculty and staff will lend you a hand on move-in day, Saturday, August 26. President Mroz even gets in on the action.

Part Two:
Gearing Up for Orientation

Isn’t it hard to believe that August has arrived already??? As promised, this week I will continue to prep you for your student gearing up to come to Michigan Tech. Read on to learn about campus safety, transportation arrangements, and local banking and dental information.

Campus Safety
One thing that should help ease your fears of having your student go to college so far away from home is the safety of our campus. I always take pride in telling my campus tours how safe Michigan Tech really is. I have always grown up not locking my car doors, and sometimes not even my house doors, and that’s exactly what the community is like in Houghton. However, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend leaving everything unlocked, because it is better to be safe than sorry.

Michigan Tech is repeatedly ranked as the safest University in the state of Michigan, and has been ranked as the eighth safest University in the entire U.S. Either way you look at it, as a parent, it is always nice to know your student will be in a safe environment. Michigan Tech students have never needed to worry about major crimes.

Now as a student, I do need to recommend that you remind your student to just be aware of their surroundings at all times. Although some students do not even lock up their bikes in a bike rack, I have heard of bikes disappearing now and again. And if your student has valuable calculators or computers, remind them to never leave them or their backpacks sitting out in a public area unattended. And they should ALWAYS lock their residence hall room. Even though many students will leave their doors open during the day for friends to stop by and visit, when not in the room, it is important to keep belongings safe.

Many parents often ask me if I carry pepper-spray or a whistle as a female on a male-dominant campus. Even though I do carry pepper-spray with me no matter where I go, as a female, I have never worried about walking home from campus in the dark or walking somewhere alone because all of the sidewalks and parking lots are well lit. There are also blue safety phones directly connected to MTU Public Safety located all over campus. Public Safety also has regular surveillance routines, where they drive all around campus 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Public Safety is located across the road from the side of Wadsworth Hall, so it is located directly on campus. If you would like to learn more about Public Safety, please visit: http://www.admin.mtu.edu/psafe/.

If you would like to view our campus safety report from this past year, please visit: http://www.admin.mtu.edu/psafe/annualcrimereport.pdf.

Transportation
One of the main decisions students will have to make when first coming to Michigan Tech is whether to bring their vehicle or not. As I mentioned in my previous article, if your student does want to have their vehicle on campus, they will have to register it online prior to arriving for Orientation. Parking spaces are always assigned on a first come, first serve basis. If your student does not plan on bringing their vehicle with them, then there are a few main options for getting around that I would recommend. First of all, your student is going to make a lot of friends at Michigan Tech, especially if they live in the residence halls. Carpooling will always be an option. Plus, students are welcome to bring their bicycles, rollerblades, and skateboards to get around.

Second, the Houghton Transit bus system has routes that include stops all over campus. For students, the cost is $1 for the downtown route. For by-demand routes, the cost for students is $3. If you would like to find out more information about specific routes and additional pricing information, please visit: http://www.cityofhoughton.com/indexvisitor.html.

And lastly, your student could always take the taxi. Neil’s Cab is located in Hancock, and can be contacted by calling (906) 482-5515.

Banking & Dentists
Over the past few months, quite a few of you have inquired about what options there are in the Houghton area for banking needs. Personally, I would recommend using Wells Fargo or the Michigan Tech Credit Union because they are the closest to campus. However, here is the complete list of banks in Houghton with phone numbers if you would like to contact them:

You will be provided with information during orientation about our local medical facilities (we even have one located on campus!). However, it is always helpful to have information about dentists as well. Here is contact information for the Houghton dentists listed in the area telephone book, which also lists more dentists in the surrounding communities.

Until next week,

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