Cheney Mason / Winonan
Welcome Week at Winona State University is a busy and exciting time for incoming students. Warriors get their first glimpse of college life, which can involve parties and alcohol use on campus.
Winona State maintains a strict dry campus policy that states alcohol and other drugs are prohibited in the dorm halls or on campus.
The policy is something Resident Assistants have the possibility of enforcing, especially as eager first-year students experience their first nights of independence.
Resident assistant of Lourdes Hall, Elladee Zak, said the start of the year has been relatively smooth.
“So far, my year as an RA has been going great,” Zak said.
Due to confidentiality reasons, Zak was unable to disclose any further information about situations in the dorms this year.
“I really have no idea if this year is better or worse [compared to past years],” Zak said. “The other RAs can’t tell me what is going on due to confidentiality.”
First-year student Megan Graves, said her first week on campus was also pretty calm.
“The first week went well,” Graves said. “Nothing super crazy happened to me, but I didn’t go to any parties or anything. But the people who went, it looked like they had fun.”
Graves lives on west campus in a single room in Lourdes Hall. She said her hall and floor were quiet, but she did know of friends who participated in parties and drinking.
“The dorms were pretty good all week, and my dorm area was pretty quiet for the most part,” Graves said.
Yet not everyone had a quiet Welcome Week.
Sophomore Shaye Bruyere, became a victim of criminal activity early Sunday morning during Welcome Week when Winona Police contacted him about his car being vandalized.
“It was like 3 a.m. when the cops called me to let me know that my car had been vandalized by a drunk person,” Bruyere said. “They took something metal and smacked up the car especially on the hood and defecated on my windshield.”
He said the object used to damage the car seemed to be the metal buckle end of a belt.
Bruyere also said the suspect was not a Winona State student.
“They caught the guy, and he was obviously intoxicated,” Bruyere said.
Bruyere added he was upset about the incident and could not believe something like that could have happened to him.
“It was very inconvenient. Especially at three in the morning,” Bruyere said.
Bruyere expressed that he is just glad he is safe.