As students study for finals, finish up projects, and the stress of finals approaching starts to build, California State University Monterey Bay’s (CSUMB) library hosted Welcome to Finals Week events to try and remove some of these worries.
Throughout last week before finals, there were a few different activities laid out in the library, like puzzles and coloring pages, lots of snacks and coffee, and therapy dogs from SPCA rescue center students could pet to relax; there was a golden retriever and labrador.
Outside of the handouts in the library, there were also many different anti-stress activities to take students’ minds off the chaos and focus on being calm and collected, which will proceed during finals week with varying opportunities to study.
“Our goal is to try and help students de-stress during finals. We’ve been doing this now for about eight years, and every year it grows bigger,” said Library Analyst Nicole Janisch. “We try to cater to students who are studying in the building as well.”
With all of the handouts, therapy dogs, and snacks being located on the first floor, students can just pop by and get a snack or participate in other things provided when passing by to study for finals or while heading to class.
“When we started this, we had a very tiny budget just from the library and tried to pull little things together that we thought would help students,” said Janisch. “Our inspiration is just looking at bigger universities and what they accomplished and how students have been able to work better on their finals with specific activities and just take from them.
“We had a budget before of about $200, and over the years, we’ve had academic affairs. The corporation has chipped in along with other university departments, and now our budget is over $6,000 to make this happen. Students will write letters and cards letting us know that it has helped them,” said Janisch.
As WTF Week grows, more and more students find some peace in the event. It truly does make their days better.
“This event was very therapeutic and very much needed to take my stress away. The therapy dogs are beneficial, and now I feel like I can go on with my finals feeling relaxed,” said second-year Michaela Benkavich.
“I would like to see maybe a nice spot in the library where people can sit down and pet the dogs, and maybe it can be outside if the weather is good. It can also just be a relaxing area, and I would also like to see more dogs,” said second-year Jocelyn Ayala.
Second-year Kaitlyn Alvarez suggested things she would like to see added in the future.
“Some other relaxing tools I would like to see are a de-stressing fidget,” said Alvarez. ”I know I’m very tactile when I’m stressed, like I need to play with something, so I feel like that would be cool.”
As this event grows, so does the student’s appreciation for it and their ability to go on to conquer their finals as well. Study hard and good luck.
