Correction appended: The article has been corrected to update last semester’s Finals Festival events.
Student Senate prepares to host its Final Festival from April 25-27 to give students a chance to destress during exam season through activities such as a sour candy tasting, a Lego building competition, pot painting and ziplining.
“Finals are a lot for kids, and they seem to really enjoy just having this little time to be able to have fun, like do a craft, relax, hang out with their friends,” Academic Affairs Commissioner Maggie Giansante said.
Giansante said the event started before the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was put on pause with the quarantine. The previous Academic Affairs Commissioner, Dylan DeMonte, restarted the tradition.
The event, which costs Student Senate $885 to hold, has been in the planning process since the beginning of the semester to make sure everything logistically worked.
“There's usually stuff I want to work on during the rest of the year, so I want to make sure this is all kind of settled,” Giansante said. “I started about the end of January because we also had the idea that we wanted to do with the ziplining.”
The festival takes place the weekend before finals week because it works better with people’s schedules. Giansante said many students choose to go home early if they do not have anything to do.
“A lot of times, kids are just exhausted from the finals, so (what) they do right before is a fun thing,” Giansante said. “Also, on Saturday and Sunday, you might want to take a short break, and you can come and enjoy that and then go back to studying.”
The sour candy tasting at Baker University Center is on the fourth floor from 6:30-8 p.m. April 25. If it rains, the event will be moved to Bentley Hall in room 120. The Lego competition April 26 will take place in room 007 in Copeland Hall from 6:30-8 p.m..
The pot painting will be held April 27 in the third floor atrium in Baker from 12:30-3 p.m..
The idea to do pot painting came from Giansante wanting to do a craft event because of how popular it was last year. Giansante said it was their biggest event last year and has led to some improvements in the programming.
“People were lining up a half hour before, and I was like, ‘oh geez, I have to set up quicker,’” Giansante said. “I really wanted to make it a little bigger this year and a little more come and go if that works for kids' schedules a little better.”
The zipline experience will be offered April 26 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at The Ridges. To attend, students must sign up for a 45-minute slot and can take a shuttle that will run every 15 to 30 minutes from Baker.
Giansante said the idea was originally thought of late in the planning of the Finals Festival last semester.
"I was like, I don't want to rush it and have it not be as good, so let's wait till next semester,” Giansante said. “Also, you can't really do it in the winter, so it would make sense to do spring (instead).”
The zipline was newly installed this winter along the Odyssey ropes course. Cody Lennon, the assistant director of outdoor recreation and education, said many students have never been to The Ridges, so this is a perfect opportunity for them to experience it.
“This experience is an opportunity for some real, immersive play,” Lennon said. “I think that's an important part of our lives that we don't always get the opportunity to take advantage of.”
Giansante said she has been working with the Center for Student Engagement and Leadership, which funded $750 for the zipline. The other members of the Student Senate have helped Giansante come up with ideas and run the events last semester.
“Last semester, a lot of the Senate members just came and helped me out through the day, which was really sweet,” Giansante said. “They all just kind of helped me because it was my first time running it, so I'm guessing because the Senate folks are pretty good, they'll probably come and help with some of the setups and cleanups.”
Minority Affairs Senator Katelynn Fox volunteered to ride the zipline early for a promotional video and help with the setup and tear down last semester, even though she had only been in Student Senate for a week.
Fox said it was fun to help at the events, and volunteering helps alleviate the stress for Giansante.
“I got to ride a zipline yesterday, and I'm very afraid of heights, but it was really fun,” Fox said. “I had a great time at the last Finals Fest. I was literally in Senate for a week, so it was a little bit stressful, but I had a great time. I got to paint some of the mugs and stuff too, and I got to have some hot chocolate. I like doing stuff like that and helping.”
Hailey Ritter, a junior studying biological sciences, said she attended the events from last semester. Last semester’s Finals Festival had a hot chocolate mug decorating event, a mindfulness and meditation event and a free soup bar.
“I thought it was a really good way to destress during finals and just release all the negative energy that surrounds studying and just being constantly in the zone,” Ritter said. “It was just like a little break.”
Out of the events this semester, Ritter said she is most looking forward to riding the zipline.
“I've never been ziplining personally, and having access to it somewhere on campus, I feel like it's exhilarating,” Ritter said. “That'd be a really good break, especially if you take friends with you.”
Often, students get into negative mindsets during finals week, which makes it harder to study for exams. Ritter said students feel like the only thing they can do is study and cannot take any breaks.
“(Taking breaks) is kind of in hand with academic burnout,” Ritter said. “You're trying so hard to do so well on these exams, and you feel like taking a break is something you're not allowed to do because every minute counts, especially when you have four or five exams. I feel like a lot of students forget that you need a minute.”
