At 7:30 a.m. on debate day I awoke feeling disappointed I hadn’t won a ticket the day before. As I pulled on my somewhat ill-fitting volunteer polo shirt and nerdy baseball cap, I had to remind myself why I was volunteering so much of my time (and sleep) to an event that I wasn’t even going to get to see. I was volunteering because I wanted to be a part of all the craziness that was going on around campus that day, ticket or not.

And it was crazy. My day started in Driscoll Underground where I found out where I would be stationed as a “wayfinder.” Being a wayfinder just meant that I would stand in one area for my entire four hour shift answering questions.

Equipped with my new volunteer sign that announced “I’m happy to help!” I set off for the corner of Evans and University. Little did I know that the entire Driscoll Green area had been blocked off, so I spent a good 15 minutes walking the fence’s perimeter before I realized the only way out was through Driscoll again. I felt a little bit ridiculous. I was the person with the “happy to help” sign, and yet I was the one who needed it.

Finally, I reached my corner. But I soon found out that my corner wasn’t flooded with people needing help. Within my first 40 minutes of the shift, I watched news vans go by and the occasional guy in a suit hurrying past me. I justified my time there by telling myself that should someone need help, I’d be there.

But then a friend who was also volunteering came to visit me (her job was the same as mine, but to walk around campus instead of staying put), and she let me in on a secret. The place to be as a volunteer was the corner of Buchtel and University. It was where all of the media personnel were going through security to get into the Ritchie Center. I only felt a little bit guilty when I abandoned my own post to walk there with her.

My friend was right. On this corner, everywhere you looked there was an important person in a business suit or someone holding a giant camera. Within my first five minutes there, I saw a news crew go live, and I think I may have even been in the background of their screen shot. Compared to Evans and University, this was certainly the ultimate corner.

Every couple minutes we’d answer a question. Towards the beginning, most were asking us how we could make the security line go faster.

Many reporters I talked to had accents and I’d wonder which city in the world would be hearing from them. It was exciting to know that cities all around the world would be hearing about DU today.

I tried to read the names on everyone’s press passes just in case I didn’t realize I was talking to someone famous. Every time I saw someone whose tag said CNN or MSNBC, I got really excited and had to keep myself from squealing.

Highlights of the morning included directing Scott Pelley from 60 minutes to the security line, helping Juan Williams from Fox News find a cab and showing Andrea Mitchell from MSNBC to the golf cart that would take her and her crew to the stage in front of Daniel’s.

I was also excited to find out that members of the Secret Service really do wear handsome black suits and dark sunglasses. I could have sworn I heard two of them discussing how they would get the president into the Ritchie Center Safely.

I couldn’t have asked for a more exciting volunteer experience. Even though I didn’t get to go to the debate itself, I felt like I had an insider view. I would put on that nerdy hat and polo shirt again in a second.