If you’ve ever attended (or even just visited) the University of Iowa, it is almost certain that you’ve heard the expression “Hawks Help Hawks!” It’s a popular phrase that is used to express the incredible community that exists within Iowa City amongst its’ students, professors and community members. And, while I will admit it sounds fairly cheesy, I have come to find that it is absolutely, without a doubt, unceasingly accurate.

Here’s 5 stories to prove it so.

1. Picture this: it’s my third day living away from home. I just moved to Iowa City, I have no idea how the bus system works or where the different routes run and I’m trying to get to a dorm building I’ve never even seen.... at 9 o’clock at night. Needless to say, I’m a little nervous and incredibly lost. I’m standing out front of my building, staring at my newly downloaded BONGO app and staring aimlessly down the street hoping that a bus will magically appear. And then it does. The problem is, I have no clue where this bus will take me if I get on it. As I began to shift uncomfortably back and forth, contemplating whether or not to get on this rapidly approaching bus… a young man I’ve never seen before appears at my side. He looks at me and says “You look a little lost, what bus are you waiting for?” Now, at this point I’m feeling like the word “freshman” must be in flashing lights on my forehead, but in my hopelessness I tell him that I don’t know what bus I’m waiting for because I don’t know where my friend’s dorm building is. He smiled and admitted that he faced similar predicaments in trying to figure the bus system out his first year. Fortunately, the bus approaching was a route that would get both him and I to our destinations. He rode with me and got off a stop after his in order to show me where to go. He walked me until he could point out the building I was trying to get to and then we parted ways. Ever since then, I see him on campus once in awhile and I still find myself indescribably grateful... and, he’s probably completely forgotten who I am.
2. The buses that run to the hawk lot are despicable (insert angry emoji here.) Okay, now that I have that out of the way… you’ll understand my frustration when I explain that one weekend I got back from a long trip and there were quite literally no buses running to the hawk lot. And, no, it was not some crazy hour- like 2 a.m. It was 4 o’clock in the afternoon on a Sunday. Yeah. I was exhausted. I dragged my weekend bag to the bus stop, opened my BONGO app and read the infamous words “No predictions available.” I dropped my bag, furious and turned to look at who was standing at the stop with me. There were a total of 3 other girls- 1 of which looked up at me and goes “Yeah, we’ve been here for over an hour because we thought one would eventually come and not one has showed up.” I sighed, debating how long I was willing to wait before I ordered an Uber. In this time, 2 more girls showed up each expressing their frustration. That was when the one that had waited for over an hour said “I’m just going to call an Uber for all of us.” I definitely thought she was joking. There were 6 of us and the “XL”Ubers are significantly more expensive. To my shock, she wasn’t kidding.. except she didn’t order an “XL.” When the Uber arrived, she insisted that we all pile in; and, when the one girl who showed up last was going to stay behind because the driver had a ton (and I mean, a ton) of stuff piled on his passenger seat, the girl looked him straight in the face and persisted that he move the stuff. The driver agreed stating that “It does suck to be left behind.” When we arrived at her dorm building, each of us offered to pay our portion but she vehemently declined, saying that she was only sorry she didn’t have enough money to have each of us dropped off at our own dorms. I thought that was so odd, that she would question the extent of her kindness. Everyone who was in that Uber was infinitely grateful for her kindness.
3. Alright, so have you ever had a Professor that definitely doesn’t care about what time commitments or priorities you have outside of their class? Yeah, so I had a Professor like that (and for his sake, I’m not going to say what class) but one day, we had these big presentations we all had to give and we didn’t quite finish all of the ones he had planned to. The student that was supposed to go last didn’t have time (however, keep in mind that there was a whole other day planned to complete these presentations) and our Professor simply did not find that acceptable. He looked at us and goes “Don’t you all have 10-15 minutes to give to him?” We all looked around at each other, unsure of what to do as the majority of us had other places to be. After what felt like an eternity, this student finally spoke up and said “I have a class in 15 minutes, I really need to go or I’ll be late. I’m sorry.” The Professor stared him down with this glare of both dissatisfaction and bafflement. The student continued to ramble his apologies as we all sat in total shock that the Professor had the audacity to question what he had to do outside of his allotted class time. That’s when other students began to speak up- “Can’t you just let him go? The rest of us can stay.” The Professor, unfortunately, continued his provocation of the student… so more of the class chimed in- “Come on, let him go. For all you know, this presentation could run over in time too.” With built confidence, the student finally said “Look, I really have to go. Is that alright?” and our Professor replied with “Well, I guess but I just don’t see how you don’t have 15 minutes to give to your fellow student.” You could see the unease on the students’ face as he grabbed his backpack and prepared to exit despite our Professor’s unwavering glare. To the class’s astonishment, the Professor began to harass him yet again. That’s when another student spoke up and exclaimed “It’s lab, right? You lose points if you’re late!” The expression on the Professor’s face shifted and the student glided out before he had a chance to say anything more. Once he was out of view of the Professor, he mouthed the words “WHAT THE HECK?!” and clasped his hands as his way of saying “Thanks.” Lesson learned: Students will always stick together because “WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!”
4. This one’s pretty simple. No one likes spiders, right? I cannot tell you the number of times that I have seen things posted online, notes placed on doors and pleas made to strangers to come and kill one. The crazy part? People actually consistently answer the pleas!
5. You know how there’s a lot of negativity spread about the millennial generation? From things like “You’re all so self-centered and don’t know how to communicate without technology” to “I worry about the world that’s going to be created when you’re all in charge.” Well, although I would like to say that I wholeheartedly, vehemently disagree with all of that, I won’t bother because this example explains exactly why the millennial generation is actually pretty amazing. It was a Friday night and I had just gotten on the bus when I realized that the older gentleman sitting in the front of the bus was terribly intoxicated… and I mean, truly, truly, terribly intoxicated to the extent of shouting incomprehensibly every few minutes. Several stops later, he got off the bus but forgot two of his bags. And, rather than keep their heads down in their phones (which may I mention would have been rather simple to do because his bags were pretty much shoved completely under the seats) I watched as 3 different students (2 males and one female) jumped to his assistance. They each smiled at each other and the one then gathered up the items and ran off the bus to chase the man down. I watched as the man yelled (what appeared to be profanities) at the young man as the young man reamined nothing but polite. During this interaction, our bus driver waited for the young man to re-board the bus; and, throughout the entire thing, not only was I reminded why I’m proud to be a Hawkeye but also why I’m proud to be a member of the millennial generation.

Needless to say, the University of Iowa is an incredible place and there are countless aspects that make it such; however, a significant one is the community that thrives amongst each and every person living in Iowa City. And now, I’d like to encourage you to post your own #hawkshelpinghawks in the comments below and on social media! Let’s share how amazing our community is and how proud we are of it.

GO HAWKS!