On Nov. 9, ETSU announced this semester’s dead week activities as Fall finals approach. The activities include origami, therapy dogs, a capella student performances, guided meditation and free food all throughout the week. Students are free to stop by the library any day from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2 to participate and de-stress.
Lydia Gwyn, Sherrod Library’s student engagement and instruction coordinator, has been working behind the scenes along with Jonathan Wilson, outreach and distance coordinator librarian, to make these events possible.
“Most of us here at the library, we are just on support duty.” Gwyn said. “Making sure everybody is not stressed out, everybody is comfortable, everybody has opportunities to destress.”
On top of the events, the library reaches out to different programs such as sororities and foundations every semester to participate in these activities. This semester, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies will prepare gift bags to hand out to students.
“We have over 2,000 new freshmen on campus this fall, and we feel like they don’t get to go home much,” Wilson said. “It’s for every student but a lot for the freshmen transitioning away from home for the very first time, and I think that’s one of our biggest goals, to make that transition easy for them during this stressful time.”
Some other activities, Gwyn mentioned, include regular jigsaw puzzles, coloring books, crossword puzzles and Legos. There will be stations set throughout the library where students can take 5 to 10 minutes to relax.
“We want them to say, when all of this is set and done, ‘Oh, that wasn’t that bad’ ‘I got through it,’” Gwyn said.
For more information on dead week activities, one can call the library at 423-439-4307.
