![Nelson Hall Resident Director Kendall Engelke Davis looks over to see what Resident Assistant Chloe Smith paints. For her weekly 8 p.m. staff development meeting in Nelson Shack April 16, Engelke Davis held a watercolor event to relieve stress. “It’s a unique opportunity to get to really invest and be in [RAs’] lives,” Engelke Davis said, “which I consider such a privilege.”](https://thebuclarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/041624_KendallEngelkeDavis_Holland_05-1200x800.jpg)
Freshmen experience their first Movie on the Hill with the comfort of their new home on campus.
By Sara Dvorak, for The Clarion
The song “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire bangs out of the speakers at exactly 8 p.m. on the West Lawn Sept. 21 at Bethel University. Freshmen Sydney Holloway and Elijah Rollerson break out into freestyle partner dancing and are joined by a swarm of their friends as they await the Movie on the Hill event. The dancers were all freshmen, except for RA Brody Hed, a senior from Becker who is finishing up his psychology degree.
Men from Bodien were on the West Lawn 40 minutes before the 8 p.m. dance party began. Their main agenda: to “go hard or go home,” Hed said in reference to hauling a futon and couch halfway across Bethel’s 289 acres, which was placed eight feet away from the projection screen.
Hed said his motivation for dragging the comfiest seat from his room to West Lawn was from regret of not doing it in previous years. This task took two trips, with two breaks in between because of fingers going numb, to bring comfy seats to watch “The Incredibles 2.”
“The experience was, incredible,” Hed said, causing the freshman to moan and snicker.
Director of Legacy Events for Bethel Student Government, Lacey Barkalow, smiled as she spoke about the event.
This event is “classic to Bethel,” she said. “It’s something fun and exciting. A great way to make memories.”
The movie ended with cheers and applause from the audience. A handful of students gave a standing ovation for the superheroes, while others showered the grass with their leftover popcorn.
The Bodien floor of residents launched from their seats to bring their couches back home. The sharp wind kept the mosquitos away, but caused students’ fingertips to tingle as they grasped the medal siding of the futon and couch.
“I will look back and remember that one time I carried my futon halfway across campus,” Hed said, “and that will be a fun memory for me and these guys.”
The Bodien guys plan to make a lawn futon tradition in years to come.