Students had the chance to do more than just study at the University Library with Finals Study On Sunday, hosted by the Learning Commons.
From noon to 10 p.m. Sunday, The Learning Commons and the library offered food, extra tutoring sessions, therapy dogs and other activities to help create a comfortable study space for students the day before finals week.
“It gives students the ability to get one or two last study sessions in before finals,” said Caitlin Gorman, graduate assistant for The Learning Commons. “Although we don’t promote cramming, we figure by providing an event like this, it gives a less stressful environment to study in.”
Typical Sundays at the library are pretty dead, said Ethan Norden, information desk assistant at the library, but the Sunday before finals usually has a more steady flow of people.
This semester’s Finals S.O.S had more students getting involved than this past year’s, Norden said.
Gorman has worked during the event each of the four times it has been offered in the past two years and said each has offered some of the same and some different activities.
This time around the event offered new things such as hot dogs and an origami session, she said.
The origami session was chosen as an activity because one of the librarians really enjoys it and thought students might like to learn it as well, said Lori Harrison, reference assistant at the library.
During the Finals S.O.S, The Learning Commons offers extended tutoring sessions and drop-in sessions for certain subjects. The most popular drop-in sessions are typically biology, chemistry, economics and physics, Gorman said.
The number of extra tutoring sessions is up to the tutors in The Learning Commons, Gorman said.
“They’re all students who have finals, too, so they get to decide what they can do,” Gorman said.
The library does the Finals S.O.S to give students a chance to unwind while also having all the resources students need to study for finals, Harrison said.
The Finals S.O.S encourages students to come to the library and study, Destiny Barthwell, a freshman, said.
Barthwell said that she had heard about other students going to the event, that there was free food and she knew she needed to study, so she decided to go to the event.
While she goes to the library often, freshman Nikki McNeill said she had never attended the Finals S.O.S previously.
“Today has been better than a usual day of studying here,” McNeill said.
The Learning Commons wants to get its name out and be known as a place students can come to get help with their classes and studies, Gorman said.
