By William Keffler
Anxiety is increasing, the nightmares keep coming, and at this time of year, there is no escaping the ruthlessness of finals week. Calling all procrastinators, have no fear; the university is here to help. Thursday, Dec. 1, Maag Library is presenting its first Long Night Against Procrastination.
With time running out on the semester and the pressure of getting the grade growing immensely, the Maag Library will be featuring its Long Night Against Procrastination, a night pooling together nearly every resource on campus for students to get a jumpstart on the ever increasing load of finals.
The event, which runs from 5 to 10 p.m., is designed to encourage students to get a start on their final projects, or for the more time-savvy students, get the finishing touches they need to polish their projects.
Various campus organizations will be at the students’ disposal during the night, including the Math Assistance Center, the Writing Center, the Multimedia Center, the Communication Consulting and Traveling Center (ConneX), various foreign language tutors, the campus recreation center’s Group X and YSU student government.
Along with the many resources, the event will also offer gift card raffles, free coffee, cocoa and snacks. To ease the stress and the feeling of being overwhelmed by upcoming finals, the event will host a meditation session, along with many other unwinding activities.
Amanda Miller, a graduate assistant at YSU, helped with earning a small grant to make this night possible. She said that she had heard about this international event at a conference and felt a great need to bring it to her campus. With another event already planned for the spring semester, she hopes this event can become a staple on campus for many years to come.
“We’ve positioned this night before finals week because we want this to be an incentive for students to get a jumpstart on finals before it’s too late,” Miller said. “We’re here to help students at any stage of their projects, and with these many organizations under one roof, students can work on projects in multiple disciplines.”
Angela Messenger, the Writing Center director, said that she caught on to this event and helped Miller and other graduate students among her staff to make this night possible.
“We didn’t want this to be an event solely revolving around the Writing Center. We thought if we could get every organization in one place for one night, it could greatly help the students,” Messenger said. “It’s an opportunity for us to showcase the many resources that the campus offers, but most importantly, help students to lighten their load before finals.”
Even for students who prefer to study by themselves, this night can still offer the solitude they prefer. With the entire library open, students can grab some free food, then find a quiet place to study. For Crawford Warrick, YSU student and self-proclaimed “library rat,” the library is as familiar to him as the back of his hand, but he is interested to see what this night can offer that students wouldn’t find on a typical Thursday evening in Maag.
“I think it’s a great idea to pool together all of the campus resources,” Warrick said. “I don’t have a diverse semester of classes, because I’m a senior, but this consolidation should be a great resource for underclassmen trying to complete projects in multiple disciplines. There’s no doubt I’ll be taking full advantage of the free coffee though.”