By RORY MOORE
Tiger Media Network
Fort Hays State University’s Office of Student Engagement hosted Finals Study Night on Thursday for students to engage in fun activities, finish school work, and take a break from academics inside the Fishchli-Wills Center for Student Success. Activities were divided into all three floors of the building, with tutoring and study sessions on the first floor, video games and snacks on the second floor, and slime and sensory bottles on the third floor.
“We’re having any student who wants to come in for extra help right before finals and get any other kinds they need to get out for classes, or look over papers that they need to submit,” Tutor Lexi Johnson said. “We’re trying to help students get what they need in order to feel comfortable taking their finals, whether that’s new material they need help understanding, or if it’s any old material they need refreshing on.”
Johnson and the Student Success Center established creative methods to help students alleviate stress.
“We have a variety of food because sugar fuels the body for finals,” she said. “We have various different ways of color coding, like note cards or other study materials, to keep the mood lively.”
The slime and sensory bottles were also creative methods to help students overcome anxiety before finals.
“The sensory bottles have water and a little bit of dish soap,” Director of Counseling Services Amy Schaffer said. “They shake them up, and you can put all kinds of glitter and things inside them, put a lid on it, and when you’re stressed or anxious, you can shake it up and watch how all the things go. For making the slime, we have glue and activator, and they can add different scents and colors to it. But the slime is supposed to be where you have something to mess with while you’re studying.”
Medical Diagnostic Imaging student Emma Richardson got the opportunity to relieve that stress while participating in the night’s events.
“It’s been fun,” she said. “We made slime, ate cereal, and played Battleship. So, I feel like it’s been good, and it’s made me feel more prepared and relaxed when I take my final.”
For more information about Academic Success, go to https://www.fhsu.edu/success/.