As the Fall 2024 semester at NCC comes to a close, students enter the most stressful part, finals. Students have to deal with final tests, papers and speeches that make up a majority of their grade. With this, comes a need for events and activities on campus meant to help students with stress and anxiety.
NCC offers a wide variety of campus events during finals time. Student organizations hold some of these events while the school hosts the main ones. While there seems like a lot of good events on campus, is it enough?
Events held by NCC
Finals season at NCC has some of the best events of the semesters. Most notable are Dyson Dog Days and the Late Night Pancake Breakfast. Both events are campus favorites and have high turn out every semester.
Dyson Dog Days is an event where students can play with and pet therapy dogs to de-stress during finals. Typically, this event is the Thursday of the last week of classes, right before finals week truly starts.
Dogs are to help with people’s mental health. In an article by NBC, it was reported in a study that people who brushed or pet a dog had stronger brain waves associated with attention and concentration. Dyson Dog Days is the perfect event to help students concentrate better at the end of the semester.
The Late Night Pancake Breakfast, another biannual event, where Kaufman Dining Hall serves breakfast food late at night. This event is the weekend before finals week, or early on in the week from nine to 11 pm. Students look forward to this event every time, with crazy high turnout.
Student-led events
Student organizations all over campus like to arrange events around finals time as a way for students to take a break. One event was NCC NOW’s Sips and Self Care on Nov. 21. This event included mocktails, facemasks and “good vibes” going into finals.
“NCC NOW wanted to host a sips and self care night because after the election and with the stress of finals we know that community is more important than ever. We had mocktails, music, coloring pages, and really fun conversations to help alleviate this often stressful time of year,” said Megan Sinnaeve, ‘26.
What do students need?
While many events on campus for benefit students around finals time, some students have needs that differ from what is offered.
“I would love to see more spaces where students can relax. I enjoy the implementation of yoga on Thursdays and other events, but sometimes we need places to just be and relax,” said Saul Vera, ‘27.
Student organizations like NCC NOW have the right idea about the type of events students need during finals, but many events are still high in energy and can be a lot for students experiencing anxiety during this time.
For the next finals season at NCC, there need to be more spaces and events on campus that allow students to take a breath. Places that students can live in a peaceful quiet moment before going back into studying and work.
