The Night Owl Café (NOC) has opened after two weeks of being closed.
Director of Student Involvement Jessica Gagne Cloutier stated in an email, “The NOC was closed because we are in the process of hiring and training an entirely new staff. We will open to full hours as soon as the new team is fully trained and ready to operate solo.”
Employees and other students have expressed their thoughts in regards to the NOC closure and the process prior to opening again.
Senior Alissa Arnold, NOC team leader, said she has not received any feedback from the students about the closure of the NOC and talked about the challenges that arose from being closed.
“I have not received any feedback about the NOC being closed and my boss [Gagne Cloutier] and I have been focused on training new staff to get the doors open. We had to hire a whole new team because people either graduated, went abroad or had scheduling issues arise this semester.”
Arnold continued on how she would have liked to open the first few weeks of school but she wanted to make sure everything was prepared
“The biggest challenge was not being able to talk to the community,” Arnold said. “It was important for the staff to be prepared. I would have liked to be on time with this but we wanted to make sure our staff was trained and prepared.”
Sophomore Myah Henry, a NOC staff member, talked about what her training process was like and the procedures she had to follow.
“I did an interview and I heard back right away,” Henry said. “I started the training process as soon as I got to school. My first shift was how to open the NOC, what to clean and stock and procedures like that. My second shift was learning how to do a closing shift. Now my current shift is being observed on how I do things around here and what I can improve on, and my last shift is how I am able to run it alone without supervision.”
Sophomore Matthew Silvestri said he did not like the NOC being closed for two weeks and was aware of the closure happening because he works at the help desk in the student center.
“I was not surprised about the closing of the Night Owl Café because I work in the student center, and now that Lloyd’s [Marketplace] is closed early, I wasn’t able to get a late-night snack from either of the places like I usually do.”
First-year Aubrey Lepine said she was unaware of the closing of the Night Owl Cafe because it was her first time going there. “I did not know that the cafe was closed, but I like coming here, although it’s my first time. It’s pretty cool.”
Another first-year student who is still getting acquainted, who asked not to be named, said, “I did not hear what was going on with the Night Owl Cafe because I have never been there but I have heard people talk about how they have popcorn and soda which sounds nice.”
The NOC is located on the second floor of the student center and the hours for the year are Monday 6-10 p.m., Tuesday: Closed, Wednesday: 6-10 p.m., Thursday: 6-7:30 p.m. and Friday: 6-7:30 p.m.
Tamy Jacques can be reached at
tjacques@kscequinox.com
