The first day of classes at Coastal Carolina University is a busy time for everyone, from faculty to staff, from students to administration. But no one is perhaps busier than the student staff behind the desk at CHANT411, the information service on campus.

The first day of classes each fall semester has traditionally been the busiest day of the entire year for CHANT411, which fields and answers questions received from the University community via phone, text, email or social media.

The 12- to 14-person staff fields more than 1,100 questions on that day alone, this year falling on Aug. 20. In 2017, the first day of classes was Aug. 21, and CHANT411 had 1,195 inquiries. During the first 10 days of classes last year, they had 7,638 inquiries, an average of 764 questions per day.

A lot goes into preparing for that day, as well as the rest of the academic year, said April Betsch, founding director of CHANT411.

An extensive training session for the staff is held in the summer prior to Orientation. The weeks leading up to those first 10 days, the staff gets together for a meeting and a special schedule is created to increase the amount of staff on hand. They also create folders that include answers to common questions.

Betsch said the student staff members 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.

The student staff fully research a question to make sure they have a complete and accurate answer, because during their training they learn how important accuracy is to the fundamental mission behind CHANT411.

"Accuracy is everything," Betsch said. "All it takes is one wrong answer to turn someone off. Students who work here have to be critical thinkers, and sometimes have to ask more questions to get more information in order to find the right answer. To work here, you have to be a go-getter."

To make sure her staff has that "go-getter" quality, part of CHANT411 training includes reading "The Go-Getter" by Peter B. Kyne. The mantra of the book is similar to what Betsch instills in the CHANT411 staff: "It shall be done. There will be many tasks at hand at which you will want to quit, but you must persist."

Assistant director of CHANT411 Scott Karchner said the staff needs to understand that they can't give up if a question is harder than normal.

"If we get that hard question that we want to give up on and not answer, we know that there is an answer out there, so we will go through whatever we need to get an answer for that person," he said. Karchner has been with the information service since it began in 2013, starting as a student staff worker.

Junior psychology major Ashante Edwards is in her second year working with CHANT411 and says she 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. "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."

Ready to welcome CCU22

New at the CHANT411 desk for 2018 is a welcome wall that displays the word "welcome" in 34 different languages.

"CHANT411 has been looking for ways to be more inclusive of our international community," Betsch said. "The wall has 34 translations of the word 'welcome' on it which represent the languages spoken by the current student population."

The idea came from Karchner, who saw a similar concept during a visit to the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse. He served as the project manager, working with staff from the Center for Global Engagement and the University sign shop to make it happen.

Languages represented range from French and Spanish to Swahili, Finnish and Korean.

Additional information:

Twitter: @CHANT_411

Facebook: facebook.com/chant411

Instagram: @chant_411

Visit coastal.edu/chant411 or call 843-234-3411.

CHANT411 will operate on extended hours Aug. 17-19 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Fall operating hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 8 p.m.

CHANT411 celebrated its fifth anniversary this summer. Read about it here.