A look at the first week of resident hall student life

The first week back to school is often packed with memorable experiences for students living on campus, some of which they wish they could forget.

College begins to feel more like home for students as they become familiar with the activity around campus.

Freshman Scott Marchese, a transfer student from Capital University in Bexley, Ohio, said it was worth the move north.

“It’s way more fun here in Kent,” Marchese said. “There’s always something to do.”

Marchese said he saw drum circles, parties and live action role-playing on campus where students fought each other with foam weapons.

“It was really a different experience seeing this stuff,” he said. “We didn’t have them at Capital.”

Tyler Bayer, a freshman resident of Lake Hall, said his first week in the dorms was a hot one. Lake Hall does not have air conditioning in its rooms.

“I’m basically always sweating,” Bayer said. “I can’t wait for fall to get here.”

Freshman Joe Delzoppo said he had a fun week. He, along with his dorm friends, went to the Kent State football game Thursday night.

“It was such a great game,” Delzoppo said. “I was glad to see Kent win it.”

Delzoppo said one of the most interesting events he witnessed his first week was a man getting arrested Thursday night on University Drive. He said he watched as police tackled the man to the ground and cuffed him as he was resisting.

“It looked like the guy was drunk,” Delzoppo said. “I think he was starting fights.”

Living in Lake Hall has been interesting and sometimes irritating, Delzoppo said. He said the elevator is known for breaking down and being unreliable. The elevator is still moving when the doors open, he said.

“You can open the doors with your hands when it’s going up,” he said. “I know that some people got stuck in it before. When it passes floors it makes a beeping sound. If it doesn’t beep when it arrives on your floor, then you know you’re stuck.”

Delzoppo said his floor was subjected to a two or three hour loss of power when someone decided to mess around and flip the breakers off.

Freshman Aaron Buell said his friend thought it would be a good idea to play a prank on the girls’ side of the floor.

“He ran down the hall, tearing down everything he saw.” Buell said. “Turned out it wasn’t such a great idea after all.”

Sophomore Brenda Balut said the most exciting part of her first week was when her dorm, Verder Hall, was evacuated Wednesday. She said a girl left her clothes basket on a hot stove in the mini kitchen located in the laundry room, which signaled a fire alarm when it began to melt. The police and fire department were called to the scene.

Balut said a police officer told all the residents what happened and asked that the owner of the clothes basket come forward without fear of punishment. A girl went to talk with him with a group of her friends, she said.

“We were all outside for about 15 minutes,” Balut said. “After that, the whole second floor smelled like burnt plastic for two hours.”

Contact Kyle McCallum at [email protected].