Safety is one key to life. No matter where you are, what you are doing, or who you are with. Being active and aware of your surroundings will help you in any situation. It is easy to forget all of those things when you are having a good time though.

College is a great time for meeting new people and getting invited to so many different places. But do you really know who you are hanging out with?

Imagine you get invited to a party tonight. You’re a freshman in college and you don’t know too many people so this would be a great ice breaker for you, so you decide to go.

You show up to the party and there are so many people.  You grab a drink to ease some stress. You find a corner to put yourself in and analyze who is here. You end up locking eyes with someone. They start to make their way towards you. You’re nervous because you never really put yourself out there.

You both introduce yourself and they ask if you need another drink.  You look in your cup and see that your empty and you say why not. The night goes on and you decide it’s time to leave. The person you have been hanging with insists on walking you home to make sure you get back safe.

On your walk home you get caught up talking but then you get this strange sense that something seems off. You ignore the fact and just keep talking and walking. 

You start to feel like this walk has taken longer than it should have, and you look to see where you are. You ended up going to the wrong end of town and you feel embarrassed.  The person asks what’s the matter and you tell them the situation. They say that they live close and that you can just crash at their place. How convenient.

You get to the house and you’re just happy to be able to go to sleep. They get you a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt for you and lead you into a room you can change into. 

Closing the door behind you, you hear the door lock. You turn around and try turning the handle. You can’t get out. You don’t know what is going on. You start pulling and banging on the door but there is no answer. What did you get yourself into?

An instance like this happens with in seconds. Situations like this happen every single day while the rest of the world goes on without doing anything.

If you or someone who has had an incident like this happen, go talk to a counselor. The school provides free services and is more than willing to help you and to listen to you.

Madison College is now also working on a “Take a Stand: Stop Sexual Violence Prevention” program. They want to create a “safe campus environment” for the students and staff of Madisonå College. Everyone has gotten an e-mail from the Associate Vice President and Dean of Students, Geraldo VilaCruz, to take action, be a part of the program and complete a survey.  Starting this action on campus will lead to taking more actions outside of the campus and becoming more aware of how to avoid risky situations.