It was midnight when we decided to go back into our own rooms. But with just one step into the hallway of our freezing A&M dorms, we realized the carpet was damp. The moisture was only a beginning of an expanding pool – no a lake – seeping from under our adviser’s room.

During the middle of July, Trailblazer staff members Megan Garcia, Kelley Beeler, and I attended the Balfour Publications Workshop at Texas A&M University. Although the classes were interesting and well organized, the toilet explosion was the ultimate highlight of our A&M experience.

“I was shocked that there was a huge puddle in the middle of the hallway,” Garcia said. “I didn’t know how the puddle could grow that much because when we came back, it reached both ends of the hallway.”

After our initial finding of the puddle, we walked to the check-in area of our dorm building to alert the staff. The time spent walking to the check-in area and notifying the staff took less than five minutes. However, by the time we returned to our dorms, the puddle had grown into a lake.

“It was chaotic and stressful and I just wanted it to be over so I could just sleep,” Beeler said. “I was worried that the bathroom water would flood into our rooms.”

Theresa Proctor, our adviser, moved to a dorm room down the hall. Fortunately, the custodians were able to vacuum up all the water before it seeped into other rooms.

“My first thoughts were ‘this is disgusting’ because we couldn’t tell where the water was coming from,” Proctor said. “It was a huge inconvenience, but really, nothing of mine got damaged — I just had to move rooms.”

The water originated from the toilet due to malfunctions. Luckily, the water was clean water. Unsurprisingly, Mrs. Proctor will not have staff members staying in dorms for next summer’s camp.

“It turned me off to A&M knowing that the dormitories are capable of having a huge toilet explosion,” Garcia said. “It prepared me for handling similar events that could happen while I’m at college.”