Interview With Jessica Hullon

Interview With Jessica Hullon by Tarek El Deeb

Hi my name is Tarek El Deeb and you’re listening to my interview with Jessica Hullon.

“Please introduce yourself…name, age and your relation to AUC”

“My name is Jessica Hullon, I’m 30 years old and I’m an AUC alumni, graduated in 2000 with a degree in ‘art and vision’ and a minor in psychology”

“Assuming that you’ve spent most (if not all) of your years in AUC at the old campus…tell me where you used to hang? What you liked most about the campus”

“(laughs) Well, like most foreign students, I established a hang out around the fountain court behind the cafeteria in the Main Campus. It was my favorite spot around campus, it was peaceful too. I also loved that it was so green there, it was a nice spot to get away from the craziness of downtown”

“Now, from what I've heard, you witnessed a cooking-related fire in 1997. Tell me what happened and how you felt at the time?”

“Oh yeah…that was crazy! I think it was the semester I just became a sophomore. My classmate Sylvia and I just came out of an Arabic class and we decided to pick up some sandwiches from that small cafeteria on our way to the fountain spot. We were standing in line and I saw a cafeteria chef frying some sort of chicken or beef in a skillet with oil. That’s when the towel around his shoulders caught fire and immediately went up in flames. Honestly we were scared…like really REALLY scared. Then, we were instructed by campus security to exit the cafeteria as quick as possible.”

“Glad to see you’re doing alright! Now how about the damage from the fire…how bad was it?”

“By the time the fire fighters came to douse the flame, the counters, cooking equipment and a fridge were completely black from the smoke and some parts of the wall were also damaged. The fire which probably only lasted for 5-6 minutes felt like 5-6 hours!”

"Wow that’s quite a fire! Were you or anyone you know hurt or affected by the fire?"

“Well thankfully I was fine, but Silvia had asthma so she had some problems breathing because of all the smoke. But don’t worry she’s fine now.”

"Glad she’s alright as well. What about classes? Were any of them cancelled? Did people leave campus?"

“Well, some of the classrooms were evacuated until the fire was under control. Things were back to normal pretty quickly. In fact I actually had a class about half an hour later”

"So after the fire, did you ever go back to the cafeteria? And did anything change?"

“Yes of course! I think they got a new fridge and other kitchen accessories. Oh and they also repainted.”

"Did the campus install any safety equipment to deal with any future fires?"

“Umm…yes from what I can remember they had things like a fire extinguisher. Actually they had all of this before, so not much changed.”

"Tell me, did you find out what happened to the chef? Was anyone else in the kitchen injuired?"

“No nobody was seriously injuired. But I think the chef had burnt his hand. I do remember seeing him working behind the counter a few months later. So he must have been alright.”

"So… I guess that’s it. Thank you for being here Jessica and participating. Let’s hope you don’t run into any more fires!”

“(laughs) Yeah…I hope so”