Students played with dogs, got free massages and made stress balls at an event on Wednesday.
The Health and Wellness Center hosts the Stress Less Fest at the end every semester so students, faculty and staff can wind down and practice stress management before finals.
“It’s always better to step away and destress,” Lui Rogers, a second-year creative writing student who attended this semester’s event, said.
The Office of Student Engagement, Pets on Wheels, the Student Government Association and the School of Health Sciences partnered for the Stress Less Fest.
“We do this to give our students, staff and faculty … [some] little coping mechanisms and strategies to help them decrease their stress levels,” Stephanie Jenkins, coordinator for substance misuse and wellness education, said. “It does take a long time for us to plan.”
Jenkins said more than 200 students came to the festival.
“With that magnitude of students who attended the event, I would think that they find this useful,” Jenkins said.
According to Rogers, the event helps “cool your nerves” for the finals.
“College is hard, especially during finals week,” Rogers said. “[Students] are overwhelmed.”
Sara Nimmo, a second-year information systems student, said the event was “perfect” for her.
“I have a lot of homework and assignments,” Nimmo said. “I need to … just relax for a minute.”
Sierra Lane, a first-year education student, agreed.
“It’s nice to … just kind of unwind.” Lane said.
According to second-year psychology student Kayley Walsh, students “put a lot of pressure on themselves.”
“I can definitely speak from experience,” Walsh said. “It’s really important to destress so you don’t.”
Shawn Grim, a registered nurse at the Health and Wellness Center, said students who attended the festival learned about physical and mental health services on campus.
“We’re always happy to work with you,” Grim said.
Jenkins agreed.
“We have a lot of resources and services [and] we work very closely with our personal counselors here on campus,” Jenkins said. “Although we don’t have the Stress Less Festival every day, we do have a StressLess room in the Health and Wellness Center with a massage chair.”
