Finals — which occurred between Monday Dec. 9 and Tuesday Dec. 17 — can be a challenging time for students. To alleviate some of the stress that accompanies this period, organizations such as the Honor Committee, the Writing Center and Class Councils offered a variety of handouts before finals concluded, including free snacks, energy drinks and coffee. Students who used these resources said they appreciated this support as they finished classes and completed their exams.
The Honor Committee offered several resources during finals period, including tabs at local coffee and juice shops and free group fitness classes. Laura Howard, chair of the Committee and fourth-year College student, sent an email to all students Dec. 6 that detailed some of the opportunities the Committee had planned for finals week. These activities and resources were offered each day between Sunday Dec. 8 and Friday Dec. 13.
“We have organized a few opportunities to brighten your finals season this December and encourage you to take study breaks, maintain your healthy habits and connect with your friends,” Howard wrote.
Howard concluded her email with a full schedule of the events being offered or promoted by the Committee and discussed the organization’s motivations behind these initiatives.
“The Honor Committee designed these resources with one goal in mind: to support you.” Howard wrote. “Our community is defined and distinguished by this commitment to looking out for each other, lending a helping hand, and believing in the good faith of our peers.”
The Committee continued its tradition of the tabs that have previously been offered as recently as last semester, including a Grit coffee tab at the location on Elliewood Avenue for every day of finals and a Corner Juice tab Friday at the location on the Corner, which provided free beverages to students when they mention the tabs to an employee.
Third-year College student Eugenie Davis went to the highly popular Corner Juice tab. She was able to get any smoothie of her choice without add-ons and found it to be a very easy and quick transaction. However, Davis wishes that the tabs could have been more evenly distributed during finals.
“One issue that I know people had was that they'd wish the tab was earlier in the week, or possibly having one tab earlier in the week and one later in the week.” Davis said. “There were a lot of people with early exams that had already left that were not able to take full advantage of the tab.”
First-year College student Maggie Blundin also took advantage of the resources Honor offered. She said she tried to stop by the Grit coffee tab, and also planned to check out other Corner tabs and athletic classes later that week. She said that in the future it could be helpful to have more communication highlighting these resources during such a busy week.
“A lot of things get lost in my inbox and I read it once, but I'm not necessarily taking note of what everything is,” Blundin said. “So I think reminders could help more students take advantage of the opportunities.”
Additionally, the Committee partnered with Student Health and Wellness to create “Well-Being Tables” that were located at Clemons, Charles L. Brown Science & Engineering and Edgar Shannon libraries. These tables provided students with well-being handbooks created by WahooWell, a Student Health and Wellness program which pairs students with a well-being facilitator, as well as materials to help students promote healthy sleep schedules such as sleep masks, chamomile tea and candles.
In addition to these resources, the Committee offered free group fitness classes for students at the Aquatic and Fitness Center throughout the week. Classes included a cycling class Monday, a barre class and a yoga class Tuesday and a zumba class Wednesday.
Every semester, the Honor Committee utilizes a portion of its roughly $5 million endowment to fund its finals season initiatives. The Committee helps fund events and activities via co-sponsorships to promote positive relationships with all University students. Individuals and organizations may apply to co-sponsor an event with the Committee on their website.
Other organizations also offered opportunities and resources to support students during finals. SHW held “Fuel for Finals” events on Wednesday and Friday in the SHW building lobby where free snacks, beverages and word searches were provided. The Writing Center also offered online and in-person consultations Dec 8. through Dec. 17.
The Contemplative Sciences Center held several events, such as an “End of Semester Study Cafe” with snacks and beverages and an “End of Semester Commons Unplugged” where students were able to take a break from studying with arts, crafts and snacks. These events were held Monday and Thursday, respectively.
In addition to these school-wide opportunities, each Class Council provided its own finals resources for students, primarily aimed at the members of their respective classes. This year, the Third-Year Council offered two opportunities for members of the Class of 2026, one of which was a “cram cart” held at Clemons Sunday. According to Keoni Vega, Third-Year Council president and College student, around 100 students took advantage of the items being offered at the event, which included energy drinks, fruit and other snacks.
Third-year College student Kierany Lewis found herself in Clemons Library by chance when the “cram carts” were moving through the library. Lewis thought this was particularly helpful because it was very time-efficient and accessible for students who were looking to have a quick study break snack for free. However, she recognized that if she was not in Clemons Library, she most likely would not have known about or utilized these resources.
“I don’t know how effective [these resources] would have been for students who weren't already there,” Lewis said. “Sometimes it was hard to know when [the carts] were coming.”
The second event that was organized by the Third-Year Council was a co-sponsored event with The Jefferson Trust — an endowment administered through the University’s Alumni Association that offers annual grants to students, faculty and staff. At the event, which took place Monday on the bottom floor of 1515, students could “recharge for finals” with a free lunch catered by Roots as well as free energy drinks.
Vega spoke about the importance of the Council supporting and taking care of their class and said that the events offered over the past week were meant to help the Class of 2026 during finals using resources available to the organization.
“Since our first year, we’ve had a pretty big emphasis on taking care of the class,” Vega said. “... I really think it’s our responsibility as a class council, the governing body of the class, to make sure we can help out as much as possible, especially during finals season.”
The First-Year Council also held multiple events aimed at supporting members of their class. The organization coordinated an event dubbed “De-stress with Donuts” outside Observatory Hill Dining Hall Dec. 5 where the Council handed out donuts and stress toys to passing students. Its second event was a study cafe at Shannon Library Sunday where students could grab snacks and beverages to fuel up while studying.
Sahasra Molleti, First-Year Council president and first-year College student, said the goal of First-Year Council is to make the University feel like a home for the members of her class and that they wanted to contribute to a better student experience with these events.
“I think especially being first-years there’s a lot of anxiety with this first finals season because no one’s really sure what to expect,” Molleti said. “We recognize that during finals week, it’s more about supporting students … so [these events were] a good in between of still interacting with first-years, but not overwhelming them.”
The Fourth-Year Council also held two events where students could recharge for finals. The first event was held at Clemons Saturday where students could receive free snacks and “learn about winter holidays celebrated around the world.” A similar event was held Tuesday and Thursday, also at Clemons, where students were provided with energy drinks and snacks to “power [them] through finals,” according to the Class of 2025 Instagram page.
The Second-Year Council held one event to support students before their finals. The Council organized a Finals Wind Down on South Lawn Dec. 2 where hot chocolate, cookies and other items were handed out to students.
Finals concluded Dec. 17, and classes will resume for the Spring 2025 semester Jan. 13.
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