A student-friendly guidebook, providing information on anything and everything a Binghamton University student would need to know about the University and the surrounding area, will soon be available across campus.
The guidebook was compiled by Student Association President Adam Amit and written by Jeremy Gundel, president of the Pappy Parker Players, an improv and sketch comedy group on campus. It is currently in its last stages of production, awaiting feedback from students before its final publication.
The purpose of the guide is to create an all-inclusive list of anything a student could be interested in, according to Amit.
“Freshmen and even upperclassmen sometimes get stuck not knowing where to turn when they have an issue or concern,” Amit said. “There wasn’t even a guide for places to go on dates.”
According to Amit, he wants to give students a resource to find all of BU and Binghamton’s “wonderful hidden treasures.”
When officially released at the start of winter semester, the guide will be free for students. A version is currently available online at sa.binghamton.edu so students can see what it will be about, and request additions if they feel information is left out.
“We want students to tell us what else they want to see in the guide before we print a full version and release a full dedicated Web site for the guide,” Amit said.
The guide includes information about campus life, the Career Development Center, Health Services and even suggests places to eat in the local Vestal and Binghamton areas.
According to Gundel, Amit had the idea for the student guidebook during his sophomore year, but the idea never became a reality until Amit was elected SA president.
Gundel hopes the guide’s compelling tone and humor will attract student readers.
“The goal isn’t necessarily for it to be read front to back like a book, rather for students to keep it around as a reference when there is something they can’t find the answer to elsewhere,” he said.
Gundel explained that the guide is a summation of everything he has learned in three years at Binghamton in “one convenient handbook.”
“If a freshman reads it, he or she can walk around with the knowledge of a senior. Then, by the time that person is actually a senior, it will be like she/he has been in college for seven years,” he added.
According to Amit, Gundel was the perfect person to write a fun guide that students could really enjoy reading.
When the guide is ready to be printed, it will be paid for by ad revenues from those who advertise in the guide.
Amit predicts that the audience will include prospective students, parents and even alumni, but that the main audience is current students.
He also hopes that the guide will be passed on to new generations of students and that students will continually add to it.