For Wonsun Seo, a second-year doctoral student with a visual impairment, the help of the Tower Guard students has made his responsibilities both as a student studying rehabilitation counseling and as a teaching assistant easier.

“The Tower Guard, they help me a lot — with the Internet, finding the books, making copies,” he said. “My students, they have handwritten assignments, I can use electronic copies but handwritten is pretty difficult. So Tower Guard, they help me read through the assignments, especially the handwritten assignments.”

The student volunteers also assist in his classes on test days. Seo said it is their responsible and friendly attitude that he appreciates, especially because they are not paid, unlike most university-provided assistants.

“They can have an experience with a student with a disability,” he said. “It can change people’s attitudes, attitudes about disabilities. Some people, they have negative and stereotypical attitudes, they can share their experience with the students.”

The guard was founded in 1934 by Mary Shaw, wife of former MSU president Robert Shaw.

Students are invited to join at the end of their freshmen fall semester. Following an interview process, new members are introduced at an early-morning surprise ceremony called May Morning Sing.

A second ceremony at night completes the initiation.

Piper Marunick, an elementary education major and 2006-07 president of the Tower Guard E-Board, said she was drawn to the organization because of its long and meaningful history, beginning with the initial members of the then all-female group.

“They would actually go to the second floor of the tower, and they would read to visually impaired students,” she said.

Michael Hudson, director of the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities, served as blindness and visual impairment specialist of the center from 1992-99.

Hudson trained new Tower Guard members on the equipment and the challenges of the visually impaired.

“Their work is really universal; It can help a number of students with a number of types of disabilities,” he said.

Today, the students continue to aid in the literacy needs of visually impaired students, formatting textbooks to meet the students’ individual needs.

For example, by scanning in pages of books, they can create audio files that the computer can read to a student.

As technology evolved, Hudson said the organization began using audio tape in the 1970s, eventually converting to electronic books which they still use today in a process called E-Texting.

Current member, Jake Peacock, a human biology sophomore, said the students he has worked with, both converting texts for and assisting on tests, seem to appreciate the service and that it “evens the playing field.”

Throughout the coming year, Peacock said his goal is to spread a greater awareness about the needs of visually impaired students as well as equal opportunities.

“The school has given so much to me,” he said. “I wanted to give back to the school and give other students opportunities as well.”

Current organization president Bryan Blase, a human biology sophomore, said the current class has 69 members.

“I believe in the mission of the organization and what the organization is trying to accomplish. I think it is important work that needs to be done,” he said.

In keeping with tradition, Blase said the executive board still meets on the second floor of the tower twice a month.

Among his goals for the coming year, Blase said she hopes to continue spreading the word.

“The tasks that the Tower Guard are completing – they are tasks that need to be done because there are students who depend on it,” Blase said.