It was hot – not warm, not comfortable – but hot like sitting in a sauna after a good workout at the gym. Either way, being stuck in a confined space about 10 to 12 feet long and 5 to 6 feet wide is torture, especially when you share that space with eight people.

Eight Misericordia students were unlucky when the Mercy Hall elevator broke more than once in the first week alone. A majority of the students are first-year students trying to get to their next class.

Luckily, everyone is okay and nobody panicked but waiting half an hour was a challenge.

When asked what happened, first-year student Sara See said, “It was fine at first; we called Campus Safety and they said they would come to get us out. The longer we were in there, the hotter it kept getting. Eventually, we heard people talking outside, saying they would get us out soon.”

Much to the students’ dismay, Campus Safety could not get them out of the elevator right away. The situation got worse as it appeared the doors of the elevator would not be able to be opened.  With the question arising if the students would be stuck longer, they became frustrated with the situation.

“We all wanted to get out badly,” said first-year student Brayden Brown. “We were going to miss our next class, and we could not do anything about it. Once the people arrived, they were prying at the door and we tried making conversation with them. I feel like people got more and more agitated the hotter it got.”

With the temperature rising both literally and figuratively, the students tried making the situation better by joking around, making sure nobody panicked.

First-year student Robert Lustyik hoped they would get out before he had to use the restroom, taking his mind off the fact he had been in an elevator for about 30 minutes.

“My advice would be to stay calm because you are not going to die,” said Lustyik, who admitted he will never use the Mercy Hall elevator again.  “(That’s) an hour of my Friday, I will never get back.”

As Campus Safety worked on getting the students free, they continued to support each other and make a bad situation into a fun one, as Brown posted on social media, “Stuck in the elevator. #Rollcougs.”