Safer Spring Break 2016

As a college student, spring break can provide opportunities to travel, make memories, and have a lot of fun. It is perfectly okay to go out and celebrate making it halfway through the spring semester, but doing so responsibly is important. We want you to enjoy your spring break, but we also want you to return to EIU safely and healthy!
Please take the safety tips below into consideration while on spring break:

Keep your drink with you at all times.

• If you accidently wander away from your drink, simply throw it away and get a new one. Yes, drinks are expensive, but your life and well-being are priceless.

Do not wander away from your group.

• Have an established plan and make sure everyone sticks together. This is important for your own safety, but also for the safety of your friends.You wouldn’t want to tell your friend’s parents that “she/he was trashed and we haven’t seen him/her in 2 days.”

Use the buddy system.

• If you need to excuse yourself to use the restroom or go to the ATM, have someone accompany you.

If you encounter a problem situation, step up and do the right thing.  Report all suspicious activity to the authorities.

• You could be the only thing stopping someone from being seriously injured or harmed. If you have a bad feeling about a situation, step in and take charge. If you do not feel comfortable stepping in call 911 or report information to an appropriate authority. However, you should dever assume that someone else is going to do something about it. Ask yourself “if that was me, would I want someone to step in.”

There’s an app for that?

  Circleof6 allows users to create a group (circle) of six contacts of their choice. If you lose track of your friends, are traveling alone, or want to alert someone that you are in a dangerous situation, this app will send a message with a map and GPS location of where you are to your circle and the local emergency units.

Guardly provides real-time emergency incident monitoring and communication. It acts as an instant two-way communication with safety groups, local authorities and nearby security. One special feature that this student app offers is that it allows you to set up specific types of emergency situations such as allergy emergencies or traveling alone situations as well as accompanying contacts to be notified for each type of incident.

 Bsafe is a mobile-based safety alarm. Upon downloading the app, a red button will appear on the phone screen. When the red button is pressed, a siren will go off, a video recording will start, and the emergency contacts that you chose (which can include 911), will be alerted with a message of your GPS location and the recorded video.

 MyForce acts as a personal safety service that connects you to a live security team that instantly starts communicating with you, recording and tracking your activity, and contacting local emergency services.

Remember: Your safety is the most important! Have a wonderful and safe spring break, Panthers!