Students brush away stress with paint

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By: Angela Scipione

News Editor

Paint Your Stress Away, among other events during De-stress Week, allowed students to unwind while they hashed out final papers and projects.

Students were invited to create a holiday painting on their choice of a plate, glass or mug on Wednesday, Dec. 5. All supplies were included.

The event took place from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. outside the Viking’s Cove Bookstore in the Siek Campus Center.

Bookstore manager, Stephanie Danz, was one of the faculties who ran the event.

“It is [the first time this event has been run on campus],” Danz said. “It’s the end of the semester and we’re trying to give the students an outlet for their stress relief,” she said. “We thought, what better way than a mock paint-and-sip?”

Refreshments and brownies were available for students to enjoy while painting.

According to Danz, painting is one good way to relieve stress.

“You get to sit down and relax for a second,” she said. “It just clears your mind so you don’t have to think about studying for finals or anything.”

Most students at the event were there due to school-related stress.

“I’m balancing three finals,” Daniel Conway, digital media student, said.

Although he felt a stress level of a seven out of ten, Conway noted that painting relieved his stress, if only for the moment.

He believed that clearing your head is the best way to relieve stress. “Just to walk away from something for a while [can help],” he said.

Mya Cotton, secondary education major, was also feeling very stressed before sitting down to paint.

“I mean it’s something fun to do,” she said. “It’s helping me [to] not focus on how much I have to do.”

In Cotton’s opinion, the best way to relieve stress is to avoid procrastination.

Michael Raffel, computer information systems student, felt that completing his assignments would relieve his stress.

“On a [stress] scale of one to ten, I feel about a seven,” Raffel said. “I have a huge workload,” he said. “This is definitely my busiest semester yet, and I have a lot of work to get through before the end of the semester.”

However, painting did take some of his stress away.

“I feel a little relaxed already, honestly,” Raffel said. “I needed some spontaneous distraction, some sort of activity that I‘ve never done before.”

Other students were in agreement with Raffel, including individual studies student, Harry Elliott.

During the last two weeks, Elliott said that doing anything to keep your mind off the stress of finals is helpful.

Clarifying his stress level as a seven, Elliott enjoyed the event.

Additionally, stress-reducing events were held Monday, Dec. 3 through Friday, Dec. 7, offered by the Wellness Center.

Monday’s functions included Holistic and Spiritual Practices in the Siek Campus Center. Tuesday they hosted Sarsaparilla the Therapy Dog and a yoga session. A meditation session occurred on Thursday. Friday’s events contained Guided Imagery with complimentary herbal tea at each session.