Have you ever been scared to walk across campus by yourself just in case the thought of something bad might happen? Well, worry no more now that Simpson College has partnered with Rave Guardian.

Along with 80% of higher education institutions, Simpson College has partnered with an app that will improve your personal safety anywhere within a 10-mile radius of Simpson College. Rave Guardian provides rapid and proactive communication with your organization. 

In the past, Simpson used a messenger system that would only send out messages and alerts. Rave Guardian will take it one step further with the safety escort feature. Chris Frerichs, the director of security, noted this feature of the app is one of the most valuable features of Rave Guardian.

 “It [Rave Guardian] has the ability for your contacts to virtually walk with you across campus,” he said. “They can follow you as a little blue dot moving from building to building.” 

With this feature, the user chooses contacts to be a point of emergency contact or a ‘my guardian’ to keep track of the user and their location. The guardian is also able to set a “safety timer,” to set a certain amount of time for the user to travel to their destination and check up on them once the timer goes off.

Only the user can decide who can be a guardian and have access to your location.  Security is NOT monitoring your location; it is a secure safety measure for the students of Simpson to use. 

The guardian doesn’t have to be on campus to keep track of the user to ensure their safety.

 “Even if an individual doesn’t go to Simpson, you use them as a contact,” Frerichs said. “They might not know what Mary Berry Hall is, but they can call security and say the last time we saw them they were by Mary Berry Hall.”

To download the app, go to the app store and find Rave Guardian from RaveMobileSafety.