Students seek stress relief

As Roger Williams University students walk through the library on a weekday night looking to find an empty desk to work at, all they notice are students with jumbo coffees, piles of papers, eyes that haven't slept in days, and of course, no open desks.

With the semester dwindling down to the end, students are finding themselves more stressed than they have ever been. Students are pulling all night long study sessions in hopes that they will pass a test the next day that will determine their final grade, studying late because their varsity team had an away game, or stressed over the general course load their teachers are assigning. According to the Director of the Counseling Center, Jim Azar, students are coming to the counseling center in much higher volumes than previous semesters at this same time. "Here at Roger Williams, students find that their semesters are backloaded, which makes for an non-balanced semester" Azar commented. With a backloaded semester, professors assign the bulk of the work at the end of the term period. With this type of scheduling, many students find that they have at least two papers a week due, along with other nightly homework.

Azar commented that the counseling center sees an increase in their appointments after a certain point in the semester. "We find that from Columbus Day on, students start coming to us with more stress related issues," Azar said.

For Senior varsity athlete Justin Plourde, this is exactly the case. As a member of the men's varsity soccer team, Plourde found that participating in a sport helped relieve his stress. "Playing soccer helped to give me a break; it helped to balance my academics," Plourde commented. With the soccer season over, Plourde finds himself piled with work his current classes. "With my more difficult classes, I allot time for the more difficult subjects which helps me to plan out my semester better," Plourde said.

Varsity athletics aren't the only thing taking up time for students; many seniors and juniors are finding themselves busier than previous semesters as current internships are taking up large amounts of time. Senior Ashley Portal has to fulfill her required internship hours this week along with a 10-12 page paper due before Thanksgiving break. Portal said that "[I] look ahead to the heavier parts of the semester and plan out my time accordingly." Along with planning out and organizing workloads and managing time, the counseling center, along with Azar, stress that sleep is the number-one stress reliever.

"Sleep does such a great thing to the immune system, and with the different illnesses traveling around, students need to rest," Azar commented. He added that without sleep, students couldn't concentrate or work to their highest potential. Azar noted that students need about seven or more hours of sleep each night to obtain full rest. He also encouraged that students find time in their day to take a nap or rest, as this will enhance work ability rather than staying up late to get work done. Sophomore Megan Kopf commented that with her five classes and extra curricular activities, she tries to get at least six hours of sleep and tries and find free time during the day to nap.

Along with students and Azar, stress is coming from many different contributors. Azar commented that he believes students are experiencing stress from classes, roommate issues, final grades, money and other family issues.

The counseling center encourages students to find stress relievers, which work for them or speak to a counselor to figure out how to get through the remainder of the semester. All of these tips are posted on the Roger Williams website under the counseling center page. With only a few weeks left in the semester, students are encouraged to take a deep breath, figure out the work that needs to be accomplished, map out a reasonable schedule and most of all, understand that the stress won't last forever.