Uh oh. Not again.
Empty hands, empty pockets, and emptied the backpack. Nothing. I’ve done this twice now at Wharton and haven’t even finished my first semester. The item I’m frantically looking for is my student ID –– remarkably, it’s the access key into everything a college student needs living on campus: their dorm, the classrooms, the library, and even the cafeterias.
Both times, I traced my footsteps, asked all the security guards on the way, and even posted on the university Reddit page. Of course, no luck. And once again, lost, but not found.
I’m usually someone who’s on top of their stuff, but having my first credit card and doing my own grocery shopping for the first time was hard enough to adapt during my first semester. Financially, I’m being blatantly honest here –– I live off of a $50 weekly budget. If I exceed, my mom will scold me.
A replacement ID card at Wharton costs $30. You can do the math on my finances during those two weeks… not fun. No one should have to eat that much Campbell’s canned soup, ever.
At first, I was starting to think I was the problem because I kept losing the golden key on campus. But through some Googling and Reddit thread research, I’ve found out that twice a week, nearly a quarter of Americans misplace their house or car keys – tallying up to 2.5 days a year searching for their lost items. I wanted to gather some additional data for myself amongst my classmates and friends, so I decided to run my own survey of 50+ college students across the country to see if their experiences align with mine.
Nearly 70% of them reported losing items in college –– AirPods, wallets, a $150 North Face jacket, quality water jugs, and electronics were amongst the items lost. Despite asking security guards and retracing their steps like me, 68% of those who lost items never found them.
College life was new to me, and the last thing I needed was additional financial stress from having to repurchase my student ID a few times a quarter. From this experience, I realized that I needed some financial buffer and that I should get an internship. I wanted to join something big. Something new. Something that helps people, and even better, if it helps me, too.
So, I joined Boomerang. It’s great meeting you. I’m Andrew, the first intern at Boomerang – and yes, I lose things, too. That’s why I’m here. I’m excited to play a small part in Boomerang’s big mission of solving lost and found for us all.
Andrew Diep-Tran
Intern #1 at Boomerang
