With the 2022 fall semester coming to a close, students are preparing for the inevitable craze of finals week. Is CSI doing enough to help?

By E. Avdiu

Isabella Delmonaco and other marketing majors study for final exams in the lounge.

Photo Credit: E. Avdiu

For many at CSI, finals bring a variety of negative emotions: stress, anxiety, unease, and even a little bit of annoyance; every college student knows the feeling, but not many know how to handle the pressure.

 It shouldn’t come as a surprise that most students are looking for a way to get through the week.

Isabella Delmonaco, a marketing major, stated that finals week overwhelmed her and her classmates most of the time, since some classes would give more than one final assignment. Besides the actual test itself, some courses would also give projects and additional assignments with what seemed like no time to breathe.

“There’s so much thrown at you in so little time,” said Delmonaco. “It’s all happening around the same time too, so it can be a lot.”

Some students also tend to procrastinate when it comes to studying for said exams, leaving them ten times more stressed than before. According to a 2018 survey, 45% of college students reportedly dealt with above average stress and about 33% claimed to have an average amount. 

With the added pressure of needing to pass their courses, there’s usually a lot riding on this week for students.

It’s not like CSI hasn’t done anything to help their students, though.

Recently, CSI offered a workshop on November 29 for students. Run by the Center of Student Accessibility, the workshop focused on self-care leading up to finals.

In the previous year, CSI also had Coffee Breaks, organized by the Take Me Away Committee in CAB. Now, the Take Me Away Committee settled with Stress-Relief Crafts, which will be held on December 12.

CSI students also have access to the counseling center, which is free and offers individual, group, as well as couples’ counseling. The counseling sessions can be accessed online or in-person.

Even though CSI flooded students’ inboxes with emails of these events and more, it usually ends up doing nothing but steering students away from events. Most can agree that the best way of getting students involved is by having the students market the events themselves; this way, more interest rises rather than it becoming yet another trashed or ignored email.

“Students are the best advertisers,” said an anonymous source. “I feel like there’s more interest when they’re the ones doing the promoting.”

When asked, students spoke about potential ideas for events to be held during this hectic week. 

Many liked the idea of therapy dogs, or pet therapy programs. This program can fight back against the rise in stress amongst college students.

According to a recent UNI Health Study, 80% of college students said they felt stress while at university.

In colleges like Yale Law or Fordham University, students happily welcomed the pets, usually finding it helpful in lowering blood-pressure, increasing happiness, and cultivating a better mental well-being. The dogs would sometimes only stay for a day, but that would be enough to attract hundreds of students, according to DeafDogsRock.

These therapy dogs can help alleviate loneliness, home sickness, and anxiety. Therefore, students can take a break from their stressful environment, if only for an hour.

The anonymous student also brought up another potential idea where there could be special deals during finals week, like coffee being half-price. Other than that, some students also responded positively to an event that would mark the finality of finals week, welcoming anything to help relax after a long week of stress.

Vanessa Apenteng, a senior now in her final semester, felt that it would be a good idea to have some sort of celebration.

“We need something fun to destress,” said Apenteng. “Students deserve a fucking break!”