Exam season has been upon us, and it can become more overwhelming with finals being just around the corner. While stress is a natural part of the college experience, it is important to manage stress and maintain your well-being. Too much stress can impact sleep patterns, academic performance, mental health, and immune functions. Reaching out to people and other resources can help one be better equipped to cope and manage stress. At Scripps College and the Claremont Colleges, there are events and resources for students during exam season!
Special Events: Many events are planned across the Claremont Colleges to help students take a break and provide spaces to relax. Here are some on-campus events that were available for students!
The Tiernan Field House: Unpacking Holistic Wellness – De-stressing activities and conversation on holistic wellness. The unspoken complexity of “selfcare” was discussed while self-soothing activities were provided for students to de-stress.
Scripps Trip Lights at the Los Angeles Zoo – Office of Student Engagement and students were joined for a trip to the Los Angeles Zoo lights! Admission and transportation were included.
The Tiernan Field House: De-Stress Kits – Students customized their kits with tumblers, stress balls, play-doh, cozy socks, tea, chapstick, coloring books and more!
Core III Tea – Core 3 Tea is an opportunity for students to present and display Core 3 final projects: creative, independently researched and designed works. Students set up tables and displayed their works to the Scripps and Claremont community!
Holiday Cookie Decorating – SAS Programming Committee and Malott Dining Hall (Scripps’ Dining Hall!) hosted a holiday cookie decorating event with tea, cookies, and sprinkles. The event was also hosted at Seal Court, which is a very social place for the event!
Night Owls Final Week at the Claremont Colleges Library – The Claremont Colleges Library (Honnold Mudd Library) supported students during finals week by being open for 24 hours a day. Snack breaks, ReFuel carts, a pizza night, a craft night, and midnight coffee and tea were hosted to help students study and have a break!
Therapy Dogs – Therapy Dogs visited Scripps to help students destress! This event was hosted throughout the semester to help students with midterms to finals at the end of the semester.
21 Chump Street – The Musical – True story of a high school honors student who falls for a cute girl in his class- only to find out that she is an undercover cop planted in the school to find and arrest drug dealers. The event was student run, which also included a talk-back panel after each show with representatives from relevant student groups to discuss the themes and answer questions.
Holiday Movie and PJ Party with SAS Programming Committee – Hot chocolate, apple cider, and candy canes were provided in the event. The event encouraged students to take a break and hang out with friends!
Scripps Scream – The event took place in the Bowling Green Lawn to provide de-stressing activities, snacks, giveaways and more! Including massages, succulents, stickers, mugs a coloring session and group scream.
Resources:
The Tiernan Field House: Wellness Room – The space offers board games, plush chairs, bean bags, TED talks, napping beds, a coffee table, and a massage chair for visitors to promote student health and wellbeing. Peer Health Educators also hosts office hours for students to seek guidance and support in the pursuit of wellbeing. To add, weekly events such as Tasty Tuesdays and Destress Thursdays throughout the academic years offers students time to participate in various activities such as meditating, making vegan cookies, making chocolate covered strawberries and yoga.
- Fresh Check Day: An annual event to uplift mental health promotion and suicide prevention. Students are encouraged to engage in dialogue about mental health and explore mental health resources available. This event also has interactive expo booths, peer-to-peer messaging, free food, entertainment and prizes!
Dean of Students Office and Student Affairs – The Dean of Students Office and Student Affairs work as a team to systematically create an educational and inclusive community. The deans also help connect students to many resources in the community.
Resources at The Claremont Colleges:
Monsour Counseling and Psychological Services – Consists of psychologists, marriage and family therapists, psychiatrists, post-doctoral fellows, and administrative staff who are committed to providing mental health and psychological wellness services for the Claremont Colleges community.
Student Health Services – Provides patient-centered healthcare to the Claremont Colleges community to help student’s success and well-being.
Student Disability Resource Center – Help students achieve their academic goals by providing accommodations, assisting in mediation between students and faculty, and providing student focus workshops on topics such as time management and study skills.
Office of Black Student Affairs – A cultural center and service unit within The Claremont Colleges. OBSA is dedicated to providing support, resources and space for students of African descent to feel safe, valued, informed and connected. Services include identity-based workshops, skill building activities, mentoring, arts engagement activities, student organizational support, professional/career development workshops, the sharing of 7C resources and referrals, heritage-month programming and other celebrations, and collaborative partnerships with 7C colleges, departments and organizations.
(There are also events during final season to help students take a break!)
Chicano Latino Student Affairs – Provides enrichment programs and services that enhance the academic success and personal development of Chicanx/Latinx students at The Claremont Colleges. The CLSA office offers academic support, personal guidance, graduate/professional school advice, cultural enrichment and leadership opportunities.
(During finals, CLSA hosts events such as study sessions and study breaks with snack!)
The Queer Resource Center – A resource center serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, asexual, omnisexual, and pansexual communities, as well as allies at The Claremont Colleges. A great collection of over 2,000 LGBTQIA-related books and movies, which can be checked out for free and used as textbooks for classes or research material for papers. The QRC’s student associates work hard every semester to hold a number of fantastic programs in addition to co-sponsoring many other events with various organizations.
The QRC’s lounge and lobby (aka rainbow ski lodge) can be used for organizational meetings, doing homework and studying, or simply hanging out with friends in a safer and more welcoming space. The lounge also includes a computer for 7C student use.
There are also so many things to do such as listening to music, spending time outside, guided meditations, and taking naps to recharge!