Jack Abbot- General Reporter
Student Health Services hosted a special event in honor of “Service Week” to encourage kindness. The event was hosted in Connecticut Hall.
“Today’s event is ‘splash into service.’ Every Tuesday, it’s called ‘Tune up Tuesday.’ We do it here at Conn Hall, trying to promote health and wellbeing,” pre-med major Martin Lagerman, a freshman, said.
“Tune Up Tuesday” is a weekly event that Student Health Services hosts where students can visit their table to learn about physical and mental health resources on campus. For this event, people would write down on a sticky note an act of kindness that someone has shared with them or what kindness means to them and then post it on a board for others to see. Participants also received rubber ducks and Play-Doh that they could mix with essential oils.
“I believe that kindness is super important because one act of kindness can change someone’s day,” nursing major Nadesha Shayes, a senior, said. “Especially as students, with the workload and everything, sometimes we’re lost and stressed out and so forth and having somebody do something kind for you can literally change your day, change your mindset and change your outlook.”
Shayes and Lagerman are both student workers for Student Health Services. Shayes wanted to help because she personally believes that she understands the value of kindness and how it can affect people.
The event was hosted from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and saw good turnout. Many attendants said that they visited the table because they wanted to share their own stories or thoughts on kindness.
“I just thought that it would be nice to learn about kindness and what it means to people,” nursing major Sarah Garcia, a freshman, said.
Garcia shared in her note that to her, kindness is about treating others with respect and understanding.
“I think it’s a great activity,” Lagerman said. “It’s a really sweet thing to see what kind of acts are happening around campus.”
Outside of their Tuesday event, Student Health Services provides resources and testing to students on campus. This includes access to health professionals, pregnancy or STD testing, injury treatment and much more.
Lagerman shared his own experience of kindness on campus.
“There was a field trip, and one of the kids talking to me a little bit, making jokes,” Lagerman said. “It brightened my day.”
This event was originally supposed to be part of a themed week called, “Service Week;” however, this plan never came to fruition, meaning that it ended up being a stand-alone event.
“A lot of times, classes can be hard. I’m a nursing student, so the workload can be hard,” Shayes said. “I have a friend, Emily, who always checks in on me, and so even today she checked in on me.”
