You're a CCU student, and you've been told to go to the Bursar's Office, but you don't know what that is. Who ya gonna call?

You're a CCU faculty member, and a student who is considering changing majors has asked you about the credit requirements for that major, but you can't find it online. Who ya gonna call?

You're a CCU staff member, and the room location for the 3 p.m. meeting you have has been changed at the last minute and you don't know where it's been moved. Who ya gonna call?

You're a parent whose student is starting at CCU this fall, and you need to know how many bathrooms there are in the Edwards building to accommodate a health issue. Who ya gonna call?

CHANT411, of course. And you don't have to call; you can text, email or ask via social media.

The popular, trailblazing information service at Coastal Carolina University turned 5 on June 10, and its future is bright as ever under the helm of founding director April Betsch.

In five years, CHANT411 has grown from President David A. DeCenzo's idea of having a concierge service on campus to being "the best student information center I have found on any campus," according to Neil Raisman, the leading expert on enrollment management based on academic customer service excellence.

In a blog post written on May 7, Raisman wrote, "There is no question CHANT411 does not get or won't answer."

That sentiment is part of what makes CHANT411 such a reliable and popular service. Betsch says the student workers (10 to 12 of them) are trained to treat every question they receive seriously, no matter what. To them, there is no such thing as a "dumb question," because it's likely that it's already been asked before. On an average day, they field around 100 questions; on the busiest day of the year - the first day of classes - that number grows to around 1,000. In 2017, CHANT411 fielded more than 57,000 questions. To compare, that number was 8,601 in its first year, 2013.

Betsch says it is the student staff that has gotten CHANT411 through those early years of rapid growth and built it into the well-oiled machine it is today.

"It was the students who helped me build this," she said. "Everything was run by them. I kept things moving and put in some guidelines, but it was their dedication that got us through that first crazy fall (in 2014). They saw that what they built just a year later had become so popular and important. They really are contributing to the University experience and they are making a difference."

Junior psychology major Ashante Edwards is in her second year working with CHANT411.

"Working here has made me realize that everything is bigger than me," she said. "CHANT411 shows students that you aren't alone at Coastal. It makes students feel welcome."

Edwards understands the unique dynamic of CHANT411 not only benefits other CCU students, but it has had a huge beneficial impact on her life as a student and as an employee who works as part of a team.

"Working at CHANT411 was a pivotal step for me really joining the University and becoming more proud of my University," she said. "I'm connected to so many more people who see potential in me, and April and Scott [Karchner] have been amazing mentors who allow us to see our full potential. As an employee, I pay way more attention to detail to make sure I don't give incorrect information. Behind the desk, we are a team, and when others text us or call us, they don't see it as Ashante who made a mistake, it's CHANT411, the team."

That dynamic is something DeCenzo admits he didn't anticipate when he hired Betsch to execute his original vision of a concierge service on campus. He wanted one central location where people could go to get help and to get questions answered, and shared this story, which he calls "the birthing of CHANT411."

A couple ended up in DeCenzo's office, frustrated from walking all over campus looking for help and getting the runaround. They were looking for the Office for Philanthropy, so DeCenzo walked them over, realizing that he was their last stop before they just gave up. When they arrived at philanthropy, the couple handed over check for half a million dollars as a donation to the University. That's when DeCenzo realized CCU needed a one-stop operation where people can go for answers without having to go from person to person.

"I didn't want employees with a mindset and an attitude of, 'that's not my job,'" he said. "If a problem has been presented to you, then you own it. You don't have to solve it, but you have to get the person with the problem to the right location. That's where CHANT411 comes in."

While DeCenzo envisioned a concierge service, Betsch realized after running some focus groups in 2013 that a concierge service wasn't the exact direction the University needed to go in order for the initiative to be successful.

"A symptom of a university so dynamic and growing so quickly is that information changes all the time," Betsch said. "That's what made me realize we needed an information service, and the president supported that. It was his total support that really helped establish this and build this to be what it is."

"It has far exceeded my expectations," DeCenzo said. "What April has done to take it to new levels are things that I did not envision. It's responsive to what students need. The more students we get involved, the better."

That sentiment is hard to deny, especially when you find out just how dedicated the CHANT411 team is. One student worker fielded a call on a weekend from a student with a torn ACL who needed to know where to borrow a pair of crutches until Student Health Services opened on Monday. The CHANT411 employee called Conway Medical Center, drove to the hospital to pick up the crutches, delivered them to the student in need, then returned the crutches back to the hospital the following Monday.

The student staff often spend hours researching a question to make sure they have a complete and accurate answer. Edwards said one of the hardest questions she has had to research was how much tuition cost at the college when it first opened (around $500, she said).

The staff also has an umbrella rental service in case anyone on campus gets stuck in the rain.

What's perhaps most impressive is that after five years and thousands upon thousands of questions (192,520 as of July 10, to be exact), there is only one question they haven't been able to answer … yet.

"Someone asked us where the birdhouses nailed to the trees on Prince Lawn came from," said Scott Karchner, assistant director for CHANT411. "We've been trying to figure it out for months, even calling former professors and taking one apart that had fallen on the ground trying to find clues. No one seems to know!"

It's these types of questions that the staff refer to as "teal vase" questions. All CHANT411 staff are required to read a short novel called "The Go Getter" by Peter B. Kyne. In the book, one of the main characters never gives up trying to acquire a blue vase for his supervisor, going to extreme lengths to fulfill the request. It's this type of attitude and mindset, that of a go-getter, that Betsch instills in her staff to ensure that no question goes unanswered.

The staff keeps a real teal vase behind the desk as a visual reminder of their mission, and the vase is filled with letters written by staff members on their last day at CHANT411, according to Karchner.

"Having a tangible object helps students see it is a real thing," he said. "We keep it behind the desk as a reminder to work as hard as we can to be as successful as we can."

"To work here, you have to be a go-getter," Betsch said. "Students who work here have to be critical thinkers, they have to ask more questions to get more information to get the right answer, and they have to love opportunities to go above and beyond."

Going above and beyond is a culture DeCenzo has been pushing to create at CCU for years.

"This is all part of Feel the Teal, it's changing the culture," he said. "This is a boots-on-the-ground piece of that cultural change that certainly creates a competitive advantage. There is no doubt that we are far better as a campus because of CHANT411."

Fun facts about CHANT411:

- Scott Karchner, the current assistant director of CHANT411, was among the first group of student workers hired in 2013 to launch the service.

- CHANT411 will sing select Christmas carols upon request during a specific period during the holiday season.

- The original location for CHANT411 was Sands Hall.

- CHANT411 opened the summer of 2013 and answered 466 questions.

- CHANT411 audits every question and answer provided to ensure accuracy, and follows up to provide additional answers or information if necessary.

- CHANT411's logo concept was originally designed by April Betsch's husband, David. April Betsch took his original sketches to the design team in University Communication to come up with the logo you see today.

But where did the name "CHANT411" come from?

Before CHANT411 was launched, founding director April Betsch held several focus groups that included students to find out more information about how a concierge service would be received and perceived on campus. On one of the forms collected during the focus groups, a student participant suggested calling the service CHANT411. Betsch did some digging to find out who the student was, and ended up hiring her to be a part of the inaugural staff.

Alesha Pressley said it felt like a "no-brainer" to call the service CHANT411. "The way April explained the service made me think of the 411 information service, and, of course, I pulled 'CHANT' from the mascot!" she said.

Pressley graduated from CCU in May 2016 with a Bachelor of Science in Public Health, and now she works in research administration in the department of anesthesiology at Duke University Medical Center.

"It was such an amazing experience be a part of CHANT411 from the beginning until I graduated," she said. "I formed lasting friendships with my coworkers and I developed skills that I have used in other positions and in life. Being part of CHANT411 changed the way I interact with people and provide them services."

Social media handles:

Twitter: @CHANT_411

Facebook: facebook.com/chant411

Instagram: @chant_411

Visit coastal.edu/chant411 or call 843-234-3411. CHANT411 operates Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 2-6 p.m. during the summer.