On the weekends, when students are out enjoying the best days of their lives, night assistants stay in to watch over the buildings and ready themselves to help students after a rough night out.

Andrea Sierra, a sophomore psychology major, who has been a night assistant for almost a year, said foot traffic picks up over the weekends, as well as the shenanigans.

She said sometimes students have entertaining conversations with her about how good or bad their nights went, but they usually end up raising their voices without noticing.

“They talk louder than they think,” Sierra said.

Sierra said she has no problem giving up her weekends to help her fellow students because she has made plenty of friends with residents.

“People come and talk to you, they show some interest in what you have to do,” Sierra said.

Staying up throughout the course of the night, Sierra said she sometimes gets drowsy and forces herself to stay awake.

Jenna Kuehl, a graduate student concentrating in business administration, said residents sometimes embarrass themselves when they come back in from a night out on the town.

One kid, she said, walked and up to her and slipped her his phone number.

“He said, ‘I don’t normally do this, but here is my number.’”

Another time, a resident walked up to her and started playing with her hair.

She said Marty’s, the bar across the street from Stevenson Hall, sometimes provides her with entertainment whenever she is stationed in Stevenson Hall.

“Once I saw a guy run out of the bar with a stool. I couldn’t believe it!” Kuehl said.

Kuehl pointed to her bottle of Pepsi and said, “that is what keeps me up at night.”

Alexandria Payne, a theatre arts major and first-time night assistant, detailed her schedule and said that when she is watching over the Triad she moves from building to building every hour.

Payne just started and said she has had no trouble with residents and that her work schedule has not worn her down.

Payne said she does not care about staying in on the weekends.

When she needs to pass the time because things are moving slowly, Payne said she catches up on her TV shows.

“I have some time to catch up on my ‘Big Brother,’” she said.

Payne said a big part of her job involves making sure students follow university policy.

She described her first weekend working as a night assistant as calm, but said she is ready for anything that may happen.

“Obviously you have people drinking on the weekends, but I’ve learned the proper protocol needed to help students,” Payne said. “ I’m here to keep them safe.”

Jaime Lopez can be reached at 581-2812 or jlopez2@eiu.edu.