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Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Restaurants prepare for Hobo Day
sdsucollegian.com
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT-RUN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1885
IAN LACK Reporter
Imagine a college experiece without an
adviser. Imagine not having that dependable resource to talk to about next year’s class schedule, registration or to talk to someone about what the future can look like. MAKENZIE HUBER News Editor Whitney Rederth knows exactly what this feels like. Rederth, now a junior, said throughout her sophomore year she did not receive the guidance she needed or wanted from her own adviser. “I was placed with an adviser who was in charge of a large portion of SDSU students. Because of this, the adviser only knew little bits of information about each major and program,” Rederth said. “This led to many misguided class suggestions, unanswered questions and awkward advising appointments.” Rederth sought help outside of her appointed adviser and consulted professors and other academic figures on campus because she was not receiving the guidance she felt she needed. She discovered that she was not the only student of this adviser’s
who experienced such challenges. And in other departments, other students found themselves in similar situations. Makayla Henning, a senior, was faced with a similar situation this year, for which she took matters into her own hands. Henning found out, while she was filling out her graduation application, that her adviser left SDSU. This meant she did not have an adviser to check if she completed her requirements for graduation. “It’s really frustrating when I call my adviser and he tells me he doesn’t work at SDSU anymore,” Henning said. She found an overall lack of structure with advising in her department. Contacting the head of her department was challenging, Henning said. She was left with the task of determining where she stood as far as class and graduation requirements and most importantly, why she was not informed about her former
adviser’s departure. The department head informed Henning she was missing three requirements for graduation when the two met up. Henning later checked the classes on her own and realized she already fulfilled those requirements earlier in her college career. “It freaked me out thinking that I wasn’t signed up for a bunch of classes that I needed, but I checked them and already took them,” Henning said. But, whether it’s faculty advisers, professional advisers or advisers at the First Year Advising Center, each plays an essential role in supporting students through graduation, according to Jody Owen, director of the First Year Advising Center and coordinator for SDSU undergraduate academic advising. Students rely on advisers to help them work through class schedules and graduation requirements, and advisers act as a guide to help students through those situations. Owen said advisers support students in non-academic ways to help navigate their college experiences.
Campus fire protocols in place for a reason SARA BERTSCH Editor-in-Chief There’s one story that everyone loves to complain about and share: fire alarms. Whether it’s 2 a.m. in a residence hall or in the middle of taking an online exam in The Union, every student on campus seems to have his or her own tale to tell. Rie Barnes is no different. Barnes, a senior early childhood education major, will never forget her experience in Young Hall. The night before the alarm, the university sent out a campus-wide email warning students about the -40 degree windchill the next day and stating they should “bundle up.” Barnes and her roommate were prepared for the cold walk to classes; however, they were not prepared for the 5:30 a.m. fire alarm.
“We all climbed out of bed with our coats and our comforters wrapped around us outside while they cleared the building. They didn’t know the cause,” she said. “Eventually they figured out that it was so cold that it messed with the sensor and it went off.” And now three years later, Barnes still remembers every detail of that early morning in the middle of a South Dakota winter. Barnes’ roommate was reluctant to get out of bed, but it was mandatory. Students not leaving for fire alarms is an issue on campus according to Jayme Trygstad, the emergency management specialist on campus. “We need to treat all alarms as if they are real,”
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I was a student living on third Binnewies Hall in 1984 and the fire alarm was pulled so many times after bar closing on Wednesday I was living in Young Hall nights that we started to ignore them until someone and the university warned us would yell at us to get out. One night a friend and I were that there would be -40 degree in the dayroom when the alarm went off. We didn't wind chill the next day and we were all react until smoke started flowing out of one of the prepared to be cold. At 5:30 in the morning I vents. Then we were the ones yelling at everyone to heard the fire alarm going off and I thought, get out. Turned out someone on first floor put a “Are you kidding me?” My freshman pizza, still in the box, into the oven and then fell I had to wake up my roommate ... We all year was spent in Brown asleep on one of the couches. climbed out of bed with our coats and our Hall 2012-2013. We had, I think, comforters wrapped around us outside while three fire alarms that turned out Tim Reed they cleared the building. to be false. The worst was 6 a.m. on Mayor of Brookings They didn’t know the cause. They figured out that it a Saturday. This was also one of the was so cold that it messed with the sensor and it Saturdays that the track and field team went off. That’s what the front desk people told us. did not have a morning practice It might have been 15 minutes but it felt like scheduled. Nonetheless, I begrudgingly got forever. out of bed and managed to make it out of the That was the highlight of freshman year. It building in two or three minutes, starting from the was terrible. It is not something I wish to first door on first floor. relive. It was so cold. As for fire drills, we were always at practice when they were scheduled. They did a great job at warning us all before they would test Rie Barnes our response time. However, after all the false alarms, some students Senior, Elementary Education thought they didn't need to leave their rooms. This is a problem, should there be an actual fire one day. I'm just thankful I wasn't in Mathews Hall. They had way more false alarms than Brown Hall.
Connor Branick Senior, Microbiology & Biotechnology
FIRE SAFETY
ADVISING
DREW CARROLL • The Collegian
Hobo Week can be one of the most exciting and busy weeks of the year for students with several events taking place that provide great opportunities to meet new people and have fun on campus. However, it is important for students observing SDSU’s homecoming week to remember there is more preparation and hard work that goes into Hobo Day and the weeks leading up to it than one would expect. The Hobo Day Committee begins planning for SDSU’s homecoming week in the spring semester by booking events and making reservations for students as well as the many other guests of SDSU. “We estimate that there are about 10,000 people who come in from outside of Brookings on Hobo Day, and then you have everyone from within the Brookings community who are all going to these events during the week,” said Grand Pooba of Hobo Day, Paul Dybedahl. With the amount of people who cram into Brookings to catch the Hobo Day game, parade and other events, a strain is put on the community’s eateries to accommodate the incoming guests as well as leave them with a positive impression of the restaurant and of Brookings in general. Brooking’s own world-famous Nick’s Hamburger Shop, feels the full effects of Hobo Day year after year. Co-owner Todd Fergen arrives at the shop at 7 a.m. with a manager in at 8 a.m., employees at 9 a.m. and customers in to eat by 11 a.m. This leave four hours of preparation for three times the foot traffic the shop sees throughout the day. According to Fergen, people celebrating Hobo Day make Nick’s a priority, especially alumni. “Lots of alumni want to come in here, and this is where they want to stop,” Fergen said. For Fergen and the shop, Hobo Day starts before the sun rises and continues long after it sets. Closing time for the shop is typically 4 p.m. on Saturdays, but for Hobo Day the shop stays open until 2 a.m. for window orders. He said keeping the window open for orders allows for more orders overall and has been a “smashing success.” The same goes for Buffalo Wild Wings, according to Tye Theriault, general manager of Buffalo Wild Wings in Brookings. Theriault said Hobo Day is the busiest day of the year for the restaurant. “We’ve got to stock our freezers and coolers to the brim and, with everything else, we just have to over-order everything in the week leading up to Hobo Day so we don’t come up short,” Theriault said. The Culver’s in Brookings has become increasingly involved in Jacks athletics; especially on Hobo Day. “We sponsor the Culver’s cannon that runs in the parade and fires for every touchdown, and we feed the press box and the maintenance staff,” said owner Seth Stogen. “We do a lot of different things with the athletic department in conjunction with football games and are really proud of it.” Culver’s, open since 2009, has served the Brookings area during Hobo Day every year since it’s opening. In the restaurant’s experience, the “Hobo Day rush” starts about two hours before kickoff and continues until closing. While Brookings’ places of business will offer environments of Jacks pride; students, alumni and others can attend the Hobo Day parade and football game Oct. 24. “Getting to see Hobo Week full of all kinds of events we plan and see them implemented is pretty awesome and to then see all the hard work of the parade team take place on parade morning is such an awesome feeling,” said Grand Pooba Paul Dybedahl.
BAILEY HILL • The Collegian
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