39 Freshmen men living in Oakwood/ Slater Hall returned to school after spring break to find that there was no hot water in their building. According to Oakwood’s Residential Director Josh Hartsell the hot water outage spanned from at least Saturday, March 8 to Tuesday, March 11. He explained the situation. 
“I came to school on Saturday and the hot (water) wasn’t working,” said Hartsell. “So I called maintenance and had them take a look at it. They got in touch with the company that installed the boiler. They determined that there was a part that needed to be ordered. However, it was the weekend so the part couldn’t be delivered until Tuesday.” Freshman Joel Hartman recalled the day he returned to Bethel and how he learned of the water issue. “It all started on that fateful day on Sunday,” he said. “I walked in the shower and I turned it on. And I went to the bathroom waiting for the shower to warm up. But it didn’t.” Residential Assistant Sean Swanson only had one thing to say: "It was cold." Students said that they had to choose between not showering until the boiler was fixed, showering in the Goodman showers, or facing the cold and showering in Oakwood. Most chose to shower in Oakwood. The reactions ranged from anger to not minding at all. “It made me angry when I showered in the morning,” said Oakwood resident Taylor Short. Matt Kempf, another Oakwood resident said, “It didn’t really bother me.” The lack of warm water evidently led to one freshman injuring himself. “I had to take a shower so fast that when I tried to rinse my hair I hit my head on the wall,” said Oakwood resident Cole Gordon. In addition to all these issues, many Oakwood residents believed that the dorm would begin to smell due to people not showering. However, there were no reports of the dorm smelling bad as a result of people not showering. Residents were relieved to have hot water once again on Tuesday. One of these happy people was Residential Assistant Kevin Brown, “I took a shower right after I found out it was back on,” said Brown. In the end, the lack of hot water was a terrible way for the residents of Oakwood to start out the second half of the semester, but they survived. The bright side of the situation is that with the boiler having a new piece, it shouldn’t break again for a long time.
“I came to school on Saturday and the hot (water) wasn’t working,” said Hartsell. “So I called maintenance and had them take a look at it. They got in touch with the company that installed the boiler. They determined that there was a part that needed to be ordered. However, it was the weekend so the part couldn’t be delivered until Tuesday.” Freshman Joel Hartman recalled the day he returned to Bethel and how he learned of the water issue. “It all started on that fateful day on Sunday,” he said. “I walked in the shower and I turned it on. And I went to the bathroom waiting for the shower to warm up. But it didn’t.” Residential Assistant Sean Swanson only had one thing to say: "It was cold." Students said that they had to choose between not showering until the boiler was fixed, showering in the Goodman showers, or facing the cold and showering in Oakwood. Most chose to shower in Oakwood. The reactions ranged from anger to not minding at all. “It made me angry when I showered in the morning,” said Oakwood resident Taylor Short. Matt Kempf, another Oakwood resident said, “It didn’t really bother me.” The lack of warm water evidently led to one freshman injuring himself. “I had to take a shower so fast that when I tried to rinse my hair I hit my head on the wall,” said Oakwood resident Cole Gordon. In addition to all these issues, many Oakwood residents believed that the dorm would begin to smell due to people not showering. However, there were no reports of the dorm smelling bad as a result of people not showering. Residents were relieved to have hot water once again on Tuesday. One of these happy people was Residential Assistant Kevin Brown, “I took a shower right after I found out it was back on,” said Brown. In the end, the lack of hot water was a terrible way for the residents of Oakwood to start out the second half of the semester, but they survived. The bright side of the situation is that with the boiler having a new piece, it shouldn’t break again for a long time.
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