Hurricane Irene Piece - 9/12/11

Hurricane Increases Work, Anxiety for UNH RA’s During Opening Weekend

by Ella Nilsen

            Nervous freshmen.  Returning students.  Anxious parents.  Carloads of dorm room furniture.  A campus-wide traffic jam.  What any person would classify as mayhem is routine for UNH Resident Assistants (RA’s) on the university’s opening weekend.  Something out of the ordinary?  A hurricane arriving at the same time.

            “It was really stressful,” says RA Katie Lemay.  For Lemay, who lives in UNH Residence Hall SERC A, a dorm that has both upperclassmen and freshmen residents, the normal pressures of opening weekend were heightened by the oncoming storm and the extra security measures the university took to prepare for it. 

            Due to the storm, Lemay and other RA’s were given instructions on how to respond if hurricane conditions made campus unsafe.  “ResLife immediately began to prepare us,” said RA Jenny Wu, of Christensen Hall.  “Our hall director informed us on new information as it was obtained.” 

Safety measures included putting RA’s on weather watches, preparing to tape windows, and keeping residents away from windows as much as possible.  “My original plans were to stay up all night and knock on residents doors once it got bad,” said Lemay.  “Housing was expecting some of the windows to break in…we were told to wear clothes that were appropriate to jump out of bed quickly.”  RA’s were to keep their residents in the hallways if weather conditions became too threatening.  “Some of the residents asked me if they could sleep in the hallway,” Lemay said.  Such safety precautions did not end up being necessary.

Even though the storm did not ultimately affect Durham or the Seacoast area as much as was predicted, anxiety ran high for new students.  Said Wu, “We had to inform residents about hurricane procedures during our first floor meeting, which usually sets the tone for the whole year…therefore, some students were even more nervous for college.” 

Some parents who had dropped off their new freshmen decided to pick them up and bring them home until the storm passed.  Many called the residence halls, asking hall directors and RA’s if they could come pick up their children.  “It was hard for us to get back to people,” said Lemay.  “‘Should I come pick up my son or daughter?’…that’s a minor question during move-in.”