By DANNAH SHURLING and TERESA SPAGNA
Creighton Digital Storytellers

When moving to a new city for college, you want to get to know the surrounding area outside of your campus as well as delving into what your new school has to offer. Some campuses strive to ensure that their students are engaged in the surrounding community. However, at Creighton University promotion is generally focused around on-campus events and strays away from expanding to places and events in Omaha.

As new members of the Omaha community, Creighton students have found themselves at a loss when navigating their new city when looking to the university as a guide. Creighton Senior, Virgilio Rodriguez is originally from the Dominican Republic.

“For me, it feels like Creighton doesn’t really try to integrate with the Omaha area,” he said. “It truly feels like Creighton is in its own bubble and it is not afraid to stay in it.”

Without this support from the university, Rodriguez decided to explore on his own in order to feel like a true part of his new home.

“Shahi, it has some of the best Indian food I’ve ever had,” he said. “They don’t accept tips. I found it while walking around the Old Market.”

Former student and current marketing strategist for Creighton’s Division of Student Life, Jack Robertson, gave a unique perspective on why he thinks the university shies away from this lack of promotion.

“Every once in a while I would find cool places with excursions or SLIC events,” he said.
For the most part, it came from people from Omaha and other friends who passed along the information.”

When asked why he thinks students feel like there is a lack of support from the University in exploring the surrounding city, he said, “I think that there is so much going on campus, that sometimes it overruns promoting community interaction.”

Alvin Pham, a junior at Creighton, noted the discrepancy between the “Creighton bubble” and the core Jesuit values that the university is founded upon. He pointed out that while three of those Jesuit values are rooted in engaging and serving your community, “CSU seldom promotes off-campus events rather promoting student involvement on campus.”

Nevertheless, out-of-town students sometimes feel uninformed on their new city and student-exclusive deals that the university can offer to its students in order to ensure that they feel as welcome as possible.

Freshman student McKenna Neef said transportation can limit opportunities.

“Finding fun places off campus can be hard just because I don’t have a car,” Neef said.

Transportation is a common barrier that many underclassmen students face. When asked how she explores the community, Neef said working for the CU student newspaper, the Creightonian,
pushes me to get off campus and go to different places.” She says it’s a great way to find hidden gems in Omaha.

There there are tools out there to help students integrate and engage in the Omaha community. The Omaha visitor’s guide is a great resource for any person looking to get to know what the city has to offer. There are several different sections of the guide to explore all aspects of the community, including restaurants, things to do and special offers. Making it just a little bit easier to dive deep into the Omaha community.