This article is about the Proxi admin app at app.proxi.co.
Every August, thousands of new students arrive not knowing where anything is — and every orientation office rediscovers that a PDF campus map doesn't cut it. The fix is two layers: a living campus map, and a welcome week scavenger hunt or passport that turns learning the campus into the first fun thing that happens at school.
1. The Campus Map
Create a map and add every building and landmark — double-click works beautifully on a campus, where "the fountain" and "the quad" don't have street addresses. Import the registrar's building list if one exists.
Category by what students need: "Dining, Residence Halls, Classrooms & Labs, Study Spots, Health & Wellness, Offices & Services, Athletics." Add fields like "Open Late" and "Swipes Accepted" as filters.
Building codes go in a Short code field with Numbers on markers on — pins labeled "SCI," "LIB," "SU" match the course catalog.
Style it properly: in Branding, set the school colors under Brand colors (the contrast warning will save you from maroon-on-crimson), upload the university mark as the Logo, and pick a Custom font close to the brand standard. A Minimal or Standard map style keeps 80 building pins readable.
Turn on the search bar (Filters → Search bar) with a placeholder like "Search buildings, dining, offices…" — Search this map matches building codes and names alike, so "SCI" and "Science Hall" both land.
Two viewer features made for campus: Allow users to send map to their phone from desktop (Viewer actions) — students browsing on a laptop zap it to their phone — and Save to home screen (Sharing section: Short name like "GSU Map" plus the two app icons) so orientation leaders can say "add it to your phone," no app-store approvals needed.
Embed it on the student-life site and put the QR in every orientation packet.
2. The Welcome Week Hunt
Create a Scavenger Hunt (or a Passport, if you'd rather show all the stops) from the same collection:
Stops that teach the campus: the tutoring center, the counseling office, the rec center desk, the financial-aid window, the best late-night dining hall — the places students need to know before they need them.
Clues with personality beat wayfinding: "Find the statue everyone rubs for luck before finals." Add a Hint to each so nobody stays stuck.
QR Code Check-in with a code sign at each stop (front desks love hosting them), or Photo Check-in for a photo-scavenger feel — the feed becomes orientation's shared album.
Awards: "Found 10 Spots" earns swag at the student union; "Campus Expert" for finishing. Leaderboard on — res-hall floors competing against each other is instant community.
Students join via the QR in the orientation packet or the join code at play.proxi.co — a 10-second pitch from any orientation leader.
3. Run It Like Orientation Staff
Set the Schedule to welcome week; the registration page can open earlier so students sign up during move-in.
Make a few orientation leaders testers and have them walk the route the week before — clue difficulty and QR placement always need one real pass. (See Testing Your Challenge or Scavenger Hunt Before Launch.)
Use Messages mid-week: "3 days left — the rec center and the observatory are still waiting."
Afterward, per-stop check-in counts tell student affairs which resources new students actually found — data the offices themselves will want.
Beyond Welcome Week
The same campus collection powers the rest of the year: an admissions self-guided tour (numbered stops + walking route — see the walking tours guide), a homecoming passport for alumni, and department-specific maps filtered from the master collection.
Worth a read on the Proxi blog: 5 creative scavenger hunt ideas for college welcome week, campus scavenger hunts and passport events, the Monmouth University campus map, and back-to-school bash event maps.