Though most of campus closed down at 8 a.m. this morning, the Koury Athletic Center is still open for students to enjoy. Extending their hours to 8 p.m. tonight, many students are turning to the gym as a place to go to stave off boredom.
“We usually always go to the gym anyway so we were looking forward to it when they came out saying it was open so it’s good,” said sophomore Olivia Sobel of her and her friend, Hailey Nettler.
Initially, the gym was only supposed to be open until 4 p.m. today, but when the forecast began to turn brighter, they crew decided to stay open longer.
Freshman Connor Simpson said he’s going to take full advantage of not cramming his schedule full of work on this unplanned day off. On a day that Simpson said is usually his busiest, with research and classwork occupying his time all day, the Charlotte native said he is going to use it to relax and workout.
Boredom may be the most dangerous thing to hit Elon this weekend, especially if the forecast continues to improve for the area. With approximately 1,400 students left on campus and many campus services closed down, some students here are left asking themselves what to do with all of the time on their hands.
Freshman Christian Genovesi, a resident of Smith Hall, has noted the parody between a normal weekend and the skeleton crew that now remains in the all-male dorm.
“Being in Smith, it’s definitely one of the most lively dorms on campus, you always have friends coming in and out of your room," Genovesi said. “So it’s definitely weird not having people there.”
Nettler and Sovel, who are roommates, are going to turn to Netflix to keep them entertained. However, if the power goes out, they will have resort to the tried and true method of playing board games to try and fill their time.
“We bought a board game last night. We bought Cards Against Humanity because it’s entertaining and we have a small group of friends here, so hopefully we won’t get too bored of that.” Nettler said.
For Simpson, he’s taking full advantage of this reprieve to catch-up with friends he admits he is at times too busy for.
“I have had a lot of free time but I’m not bored. I would say I’m having a lot more time for social interaction, hangout with the people I don’t get to see all of the time.” Simpson said. “Getting to see them now, it’s really nice.”
The gym has offered a nice break in the monotony some students have faced since the campus became nearly baron. Students will be able to count on the Koury Athletics Center staying open on Friday and Saturday as well, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.