Jessica Rodrigues

March 7, 2011
English 102
Nicole Williams
You Should Never Have To Walk Alone

I come from a large, yet single parent household. I am a graduate of Hudson High School in the small town

of Hudson, MA. Back at home many people say I am a very kind, outgoing and a determined student. Many of my

friends from high school have said that I can be very persuasive and that I have my ways of getting the truth out of

people, because I am very trustworthy. Currently I am attending Bridgewater State University to get my bachelor’s

degree in Criminal Justice. I did not come from a privileged family by any means and everything I have it is solely

due to the fact that I worked for it with the moral support of my family to keep me going.

In high school my best friend Kristie and I would frequently go for runs around her quiet

neighborhood, just the two of us. We would have so much fun because it gave us time to talk when we

were catching our breath, and time to cleanse our mind with fresh airMy favorite time to go for runs was

during the evenings in the summer. It was the perfect weather because it wasn’t dark out but the sun

wasn’t burning your back or making you sweaty and it was breezy but the cold wouldn’t burn your throat

from breathing with your mouth open. Looking back now, that night we should have left for our run

earlier or just stayed home. Before leaving her mother said we needed to be back at the house by 8 the

latest, just before it got dark. We lost track of time. I remember we were walking up a road not far from

her house, sharing her ipod and I saw a light blue truck with a white bedcover and snowplow go by, I

didn’t think much of it until we saw that same truck drive by us 3 more times. We had never been in more

fear than is imaginable. Even though we had the others company while walking we were still a target, two

young women walking in the dark of the night.

Coming to college, out of all the advice I have received from grandmothers, uncles, and older

male cousins, the piece I found most important is to NEVER walk alone at night and if it is inevitable, to

always walk with more than one other person just in case anything were to happen. It is unrealistic to stay

inside my residence hall all night and finding more than one other person to walk with to my desired
location in the late hours of the night. Being a freshman at Bridgewater State University we are not

allowed to have cars so the Safety Escort Service provides us with transportation to any building on

campus for free.

I decided on Bridgewater State University because out of the other colleges I toured, BSU

possessed a certain comforting quality known as the Safety Escort Service. It is the duty of Safety

everyday starting from 7.P.M. through 3.A.M. the next day to respond to requests by students as well as

transporting them from the location of pick-up to their location of drop-off. All students have to do to

utilize the safety escort service is call the safety escort service line at 508-531-1745 from a cell phone or

dial extension 1745 from any phone on campus and state the location of where they would like to be

picked up. From experience, on the weekend, when safety is busy there is usually about a ten minute wait

for pick up. From Thursday to Sunday there is a high demand because there are more students trying to

get from one place on campus to the other but there are only four vans and one bus to drive, pick up, and

drop off all students requesting service on campus.

I became interested in observing the Safety Escort Service after a friend of mine had mentioned

how hectic it can get on certain days of the week such as Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays due to

weekend festivities occurring on or around campus. They have also mentioned that seats in the vans are

quite often occupied by male and scantily clad female students heading to a point within walking distance

of their desired locations which have said to be party houses. The goal of the Safety Escort Service is to

provide a safe way to get around campus for all students during the hours that the regular shuttle bus is

not running.

I have used safety a hand full of times to get me to the library and Burlington coat factory but
never really experienced incidences that safety escort drivers experience every weekend such as students

wreaking of marijuana, alcohol and acting in a rambunctious manner. However, while I was riding on

Safety, one night a female student from the same residence hall as me was flirting and joking around with

an attractive male driver. The jokes and gestures were innocent and did not seem to bother the driver since

he went along with them as well. It has made me curious as to what drivers overhear and experience

during their shifts.

Questions I have regarding safety would be who is allowed to drive these safety escort vans

(students or any joe schmoe who applies)? What are popular pick-up and drop-off points during the

weekend? How does a safety escort driver handle situations where students are clearly under the influence

of a substance but not to the point of puking? I would also like to observe how safety escort drivers

determine who will get which call-ins for pick-ups because many students have felt that safety was

“ignoring” them.