Pioneer girls stay up past 11pm
3 of 5 missed their 8:00 class as well as chapel.

Mr. Lemonhead, news editor

Mt. Vernon, Ohio - With such a light J-term schedule, it has become more than common to see many upperclass students attempting to stay up all night. However, it is very uncommon and somewhat absurd to see this attempt being made by freshmen. Said junior Heather Pillman, "Freshmen lack the understanding of the skills that it takes to be able to stay awake past 9 pm. It is dangerous to think that they would even attempt it."

However, this is just what happened. On Jan. 16, five freshmen girls stayed up until 11:10 pm in one of their Pioneer Hall dorm rooms before passing out in random spots on the floor and beds. The purpose of staying up was unintentional, merely to watch a movie, Sleepless in Seattle. At the movies end, it was already 10:40. Though most would consider this extremely late, Ashley Kenshaw, the party host, suggested to her four friends that they "pull an all-nighter." Said Kenshaw, "It was already incredibly late when the movie ended, I didn't think it was a big deal to stay up only 9 more hours until class." Four of the five girls who stayed up had an 8:00 am class, the other not until 12:40 pm.

From 10:40 until approximately 11:08, these five friends made every attempt not to fade off into sleep through several games of Truth or Dare, Christian Poker, and Speed. At 11:08, the first girl, Natasha Hensley, Kenshaw's roommate, sprawled out asleep on her bed. Nearly a minute after, Hensley's close friend, Marie Starr fell asleep in the middle of a hand of Christian Poker. All three other girls also went under within seconds of each other, until the last one, Kenshaw, passed out due to boredom.
While the attempt can be seen as nothing short of valiant, it was more or less done in vain. A mere 30 minutes passed before all five girls were asleep. In addition to the failed attempt, three of the five girls did not even make it to their classes or chapel. Hensley showed up five minutes late to her 8 am Expository Writing class, unshowered. Said Hensley, "I cannot believe how tired I am, I only got 9 hours of sleep last night." Hensley skipped chapel to take a shower. The other girls who did have class at 8 am were unable to wake up in time for class. In fact, the other four did not even wake up until 12:15 pm. Marie Starr was, however, able to make it to her 12:40 Communications class with Prof. Kyong Kim. Starr did mention that she "found it hard to pay attention." This was obviously caused by her lack of sleep, in addition to the muffled voice of Prof. Kim.

When asked about the night's events, the girls all agreed that they were incredibly tired and that they would never do it again. The girls later returned to their own rooms to sleep through dinner. During an interview about the girls' absence during chapel, chaplain Gary Sivewright said, "I cannot understand why these girls would give their bodies to the devil like this." Sivewright showed great disappointment and minor concern for the girls spiritually.

Further investigations will be done on the questions asked in the truth or dare session, the rules of Christian Poker, and the rating of Sleepless in Seattle. In closing we can only warn you of the dangers of "pulling an all-nighter." Perhaps this report has shown how dangerous it is to even stay up past 9 pm. Otherwise, we can only caution you, if you are brave enough to attempt an all-nighter, remember not to do so if you have class/chapel the following morning. Further consideration should also be taken when under the instruction of Kyong Kim.