A late night event was held Wednesday at the Pennington Center for students to relax, have fun and relieve some stress.
REC Wellness, Kinesiology and the Counseling Center sponsored the De-Stress event where students could get free chair massages, take late night aerobics classes, play bingo, learn how to manage their time, squeeze in extra studying or take a break from school, altogether.
“I’m very excited that the REC offered these services at the time they did” said senior communication major Christopher Mckinley. “My work load was really starting to pile up and I needed to relieve some stress. I would love to see more students utilize the facility.”
As a part of the event, Pennington Center offers workshops, such as “How to manage your time” and “Healthy ways to deal with stress.”
In the past, the Pennington Center has only been able to offer this event once a semester before finals. However, due to last year’s referendum in which students voted to increase fees for more programs, they are now able to offer the De-Stress event three times per semester.
“We’re giving students a break from studying,” said Megan Mast, assistant director of Health and Fitness. “We’re targeting freshmen to help them be successful.”
Mast hopes that in the future the Pennington Center will be able to offer late night aerobics classes, giving students the opportunity to work out and relieve stress at the end of the day after homework and studying.
“It’s a good way for fellow students to stay active and relieve stress so they can have clear minds to focus more on their studying,” said senior general studies major Ashley Royerre.
Royerre is a staff member at the Pennington Center and helped run the event.
In previous De-Stress events there was an estimated 125 students in attendance; however, there was about 100 students in attendance at the De-Stress event held last Wednesday.
“I feel like these free programs for the students held by the REC and other campus organizations are very beneficial for student welfare and community building,” said senior Keturah Green, an organizational communication major.
Green has been to a previous De-Stress event and really enjoyed it, she hopes to see better advertising in the future so that more students will take advantage of it.
Future De-Stress events this semester will be held on Oct. 12 and Nov. 9 For more information email Mast at megan.mast@selu.edu, or call the Pennington Student Athletic Center at 985-549-5591.