Wichita State junior Ian Roseberry, like all students, finds getting around WSU’s main campus more difficult this year than last year.

“I think the worst part of it is just trying to find a place to hang out,” he said. 

The food court on the first floor of the Rhatigan Student Center is closed for renovation. It is scheduled to reopen mid-September.

“I came in here a lot before and now it’s kind of weird,” Roseberry, a chemistry major, said. 

A lot of students are dining and hanging out in the wRECk Center on the RSC’s second floor.

Center Director Rich Renollet said business is booming.

“We were incredibly busy and it was good,” he said about Monday’s business day. “It exceeded our expectations for sure. If I was to guess, it was 50 percent more than we anticipated. I know we’re running out of food.”

Renollet said he has ordered more food so that will not happen.

Lashawna Williams works at the Information Booth and said more students are asking about how to get to their classes.

“It’s probably 50 percent more have come and asked,” she said. “A lot of it is the food area problem. People can’t find where to eat.”

Megan Lamb, senior administrative assistant in the RSC Director’s Office, spent time handing out campus maps and answering students’ questions.

“The major questions were how to get to Jardine and McKinley (halls) – Financial Aid and that kind of thing,” she said. “The SGA signs really helped. People wondered if we were going to put up more. It put them in the right direction.”

SGA Vice President Olivia Sullivan said she got the idea while touring the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. She said the signs at WSU are in the interior of the campus where there were no signs, which provides students, especially new students, directions.

“It gives them a good direction and hopefully that helps them arrive at their destination,” she said. 

Sullivan said the verbal directions and description of “that brick building” is not specific enough.

“We’ll consider keeping them up for the first weeks of school,” she said.

Whether they stay and the possibility that another seven are added to the existing three depends on feedback about them, she said.

Other questions about the layout of RSC were about where the Bookstore and the Shocker Card Center are, Lamb said. The Bookstore is on the first floor, and the Card Center is located on the second floor.

Shocker Card Center supervisor Sean Robinson said most students were understanding about finding the center.

“We had a couple of people say they were ‘glad’ to find us,” he said. “We had to learn it ourselves and now we’re able to pass on that knowledge.”

The questions were about where offices and stores had moved.

“We’ve had a lot of questions from people about where to find the Bookstore, information desk and university dining offices,” Robinson said.

Alicia Newell, assistant director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, said the effort being made to help students find their way around is helping.

“I think it’s better than last year because there’s students spread out around campus handing out maps,” she said Monday. “We haven’t had anybody cry yet.”

Bookstore Director Kevin Konda helped hand out 1,000 sacks with a pencil, paper, a notebook, Band-Aids, shampoo and other items

“It’s a ‘welcome back’ to students,” he said. “It’s to get them started back to their classes.”

Shelly Martins, RSC director of marketing, helped, too.

“It’s to help them get through the first few days of college life,” she said. “It’s a thank you for coming to the Bookstore.”

Roseberry said it takes longer to get to his classes due to the fencing, but the signs help. Overall, he supports the renovation.

“I heard they are making it bigger and that’s good,” he said.

The $26 million project is scheduled to last about 30 months. It is being paid for with student fees.