BGR comes to Indianapolis

As new Boilermakers moved into their West Lafayette dorms for Boiler Gold Rush Tuesday afternoon, the same thing was happening 60 miles south in Indianapolis.

Arriving in cars chock full of luggage, suitcases and whatever else needed to start their year, students at Purdue in Indianapolis parked at North Hall to move into their dorm rooms and to check in for Boiler Gold Rush.

“(BGR) is designed to very much mimic the types of activities and events that people know about when they think of Boiler Gold Rush in West Lafayette,” said Greg Hall, the senior associate director of admissions at Purdue University in Indianapolis. “It’s to help get students acclimated to Purdue University, acclimated to this campus and acclimated to the city of Indianapolis.”

Peter Dogbegah, a freshman in mechanical engineering from Ghana, said that he was excited but also a little bit nervous.

“The culture difference (is) just kind of different,” he said. “I applied to several schools and I got accepted to most of them, but I decided to go to Purdue because I found that it is actually one of the best mechanical engineering schools out there.”

Dogbegah said he was excited for BGR and to take advantage of the opportunities the university provides, a sentiment echoed by other freshmen around the campus.

“I have no idea,” said Caitlan Isaacs, a freshman in mechanical engineering from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, when asked what she was excited for. “Probably meeting people.”

While freshmen in West Lafayette are a part of five different hall teams determined by where they live, all Purdue in Indianapolis freshmen participating in BGR are a part of the “Circle City Crew,” according to Purdue’s website.

“The way we split it up here in Indianapolis is that we have Pete Track, Pyramid Track and Boiler Track,” said Enila Owolabi, a team leader for BGR in Indianapolis.

“It differentiates (us) and we’re able to all come together when we go up to West Lafayette, but here we have our own little subdivision, so we can do our own little thing.”

Owolabi came to Indianapolis to attend IUPUI, but with the dissolution of the university in June, she migrated to Purdue in Indianapolis.

“It was a bit unnerving,” Owolabi said about the transition to Purdue in Indianapolis. “But then we were able to kind of work with the alumni, we were able to meet some of the (BGR staff) … and honestly, the transition has been really smooth, very welcoming and I feel very much a Boilermaker.”

BGR in Indianapolis starts Aug. 13 and ends Aug. 17, according to Purdue’s website.