The first time riding a bike can feel scary. The first day of kindergarten can feel scary. Likewise, the beginning of college may be a scary time for new students.

It was for Julie Larson, a sophomore from Humble, Texas.

Larson recalls graduating from high school in 2004 just a few days before moving to Provo, Utah, where she was on her own as a college student.

As she walked to campus that first day, she remembers being surrounded by many people, yet feeling very alone.

“It’s hard to realize that there are so many new students experiencing the exact same thing you are,” Larson said. “Once you get beyond yourself, and realize there are other people out there, [college] becomes an amazing experience.”

That first memory of college affected how Larson, the New Student Orientation recruitment director, has organized NSO for the estimated 950 incoming freshmen at BYU-Idaho, Larson said.

Anna Briesemeister, from Buffalo, Minn., is one of those 950 incoming freshmen. Driving across the country with her dad in a car full of her belongings, Briesemeister felt overwhelmed as she thought of her class schedule, living in a new town and all the other details of beginning college.

Briesemeister said she is an optimistic person and anticipates this will be a great experience.

Although her father, Scott Briesemeister, is worried about his oldest daughter being so far from home, he perceives that BYU-I is “a very safe university, with good guidelines.”

What he refers to as guidelines, Larson calls the Honor Code.

An appreciation for the Honor Code is one of the many things Larson hopes to instill in new students.

Although she acknowledges some of the minute details may be annoying at first, Larson said she has “learned to love the Honor Code and the principles behind it.”

By understanding the Honor Code, students can come to understand how it can change their lives, said Karla Maynor, a junior from Kaysville, Utah, and a leader of the I-Honor It program.

It may be that spirit that motivated over 60 students to shorten their Christmas break and come back to Rexburg to serve as I-Team leaders for the incoming freshmen at NSO.

“The last four months have changed my life as I’ve had an opportunity to serve and work with the I-Team leaders,” Larson said. “It has been inspiring to see their charity and selflessness.”

For a few days before school begins, I-Team leaders spend their time attending orientation with a group of new students; often they become friends with their new charges.