How do you conquer the battle of stress in college? Human communication studies students hosted an educational event to show students how to “beat the stress of college.”
Students approached the Ceddia Union Building (CUB) multipurpose room Wednesday night at 7 p.m. to see the human communications students’ event “Beat the Stress of College.”
The event began with human communications students handing out a questionnaire asking attendees how often they feel stressed and if they feel they are managing their stress effectively.
After students completed their questionnaires, they transitioned into a presentation with a PowerPoint describing what stress is and the effects stress has on students.
The presentation consisted of informational tips, such as five ways not to deal with stress and 10 ways to relieve stress.
Some of the examples given to relieve stress were exercising, breathing techniques, eating healthy, talking about it and taking time to have fun. “We wanted to provide students with this event to give them healthy and fun ways to manage their stress,” Mandy Gaugler, one of the events hosts, said.
They continued their presentation with statistics noting that 80 percent of college students say they frequently or sometimes experience daily stress and that stress is the main factor in academic disruption.
They also said that one in every five students have considered dropping out because of stress. The event continued with activities to help relieve stress, such as stress balls, piñatas and coloring pages.
The stress ball activity consisted of students filling balloons up with sand for an easy-to-make stress ball.
“I think more students should take advantage of this event,” student Kaylie Engle said. “It’s really fun and takes your mind off of school work for a little while to relax with other students.”
Many students took advantage of the piñata activity, hitting it to see what prizes were inside. As students took turns hitting the piñata, it broke open spilling out candy bars and lollipops.
After the presentation and activities, the hosts handed out another questionnaire that asked if students felt they learned more helpful ways to manage stress and if the series of activities helped to reduce their stress.
“Being at this event helped to distract me for a little bit from all of my school work,” Alex Anderson said. “I feel like students need to take a little time out of their day to relax and do fun things.”
The Slate welcomes thoughtful discussion on all of our stories, but please keep comments civil and on-topic. Read our full guidelines here.