By Lexi White
Features Editor
photo | Lexi white
Students going through the fidget toy bin provided by the Farnham Hall RAs.
The university provides many mental health resources to students including CASAS, Counseling Services and the Wellbeing Center. On Sept. 23, the Farnham Hall resident advisers, RAs, put together an event to help their freshmen residents become acquainted with the help that is available to them on campus.
Students watched a slide show about mental health and the resources on campus that they can utilize. The display was educational in the sense that students realized that they were not alone in their troubles and that someone is always there for them at the university.
In addition, students grabbed snacks, picked out a fidget toy and played an interactive mental health resource game with their peers in hopes to win a $10 Target gift card.
One of the RAs that was helping to host this event was elementary education major Cheraynne Martin, a senior. Martin and the other RAs wanted to come up with a beneficial event for their first-year residents.
Martin said, “I think this helped to benefit student life since they learned about the different resources on campus because as first years, they needed to find ways to decrease stress and improve their mental health, especially while coming into a new environment.”
Another Farnham Hall RA who helped to host the event was healthcare studies major Matthew Schmardel, a sophomore.
He said he wanted to host a mental health event because it is important to him, and he wanted to give his residents the ability to take initiative and ask for help if they need it.
“I use many of the on-campus resources because it is never good to suppress how you feel and taking care of yourself is so important,” Schmardel said. “When something is upsetting someone, it can get in the way of their work, goals or even who they are.”
Schmardel said that personal well-being should always come first; then all the other responsibilities should follow.
“If someone has something stressful on their mind or they are anxious about their living situation on campus, it will reflect in their schoolwork,” Schmardel said.
During Schmardel’s freshman year, he was extremely anxious about being in a new environment with unfamiliar people. He said he wants to help the students who feel the same way that he felt just a year prior.
“I hope this gives people a push to take care of themselves and to ask for help,” Schmardel said. “This event is so students can learn something, carry it with them and maybe even help someone else by telling them about the resources that are available.”
One of the students who came to this event was communication major Darin Talento, a freshman. He is a resident of Farnham Hall and said that he came to the event to learn skills to help with procrastination.
“They suggested to start using some kind of planner to help organize the tasks I need to get done so that I don’t lose track of what I need to do,” Talento said.
Marketing major Stephen Bellido, a freshman, was another resident of Farnham Hall who attended the event. Bellido said that he came to the event because he wanted to learn more about mindfulness.
“I became knowledgeable about the resources they have here, which was great, but getting a fidget toy was definitely my favorite part,” Bellido said. “They really help me calm down when I’m anxious, so I’m happy I got one.”
VOL. 64-ISSUE 4
