Disrupted sleep schedules, excessive amounts of coffee, crammed study sessions, peers and professors are on edge—more than usual—and the library is suddenly the most popular place on campus.
It’s finals time at Citrus College.
Luckily for students, the annual Night Owl study event hosted by the Associated Students of Citrus College kicked off on June 5 in the Ross L. Handy Campus Center.
Every year, the week before finals, this event provides students a place to study on campus after the library and other study-friendly buildings have closed. The event offers free tutoring, food and school supplies. But this year, raffle prizes and “de-stressing activities” such as “Zen Gardening” and meditation were added.
Nancy Gonzalez-Villatoro, communications major and the newly elected student trustee for the Board, said mental health awareness was a topic the student board wanted to highlight with the addition of pre-event activities.
“When we were planning this in May, it was mental health awareness month, so we wanted to do de-stressing activities,” Villatoro said. “We definitely wanted it to reflect that because its finals and everyone gets really stressed…we just wanted to give people an opportunity to take some time away from the books and take a breather.”
However, not everyone that attended Night Owl utilized it in the same way. One student took this event as an opportunity to save money and time.
Randall Ramirez, an English major, said the Night Owl event didn’t prepare him for finals but did free up time for him to be productive.
“Night Owl didn’t really help me prepare for finals but it sure made studying a lot easier. The free food they were giving out to students really helped me since I don’t drive,” Ramirez said. “Not having to go somewhere to buy food or wake up early to make food gave me more time to study.”
Some students are hoping the event will extend its days and hours of operation. For psychology major and ICC commissioner, Victor Ureńo, he and his colleagues experience better results from studying in a structured environment compared to their homes.
“Me and most of my classmates work a lot better and get a lot more done doing work on campus [rather] than doing work at home because when we get home we’re relaxed, we get very docile and we want to take a nap, ” Ureńo said. “ I want it to be expanded to a full week and if possible, maybe don’t close at nine, maybe close at 12 p.m.…most students’ assignments are due by 11:59, so the closer we can push those study times to midnight would be great.”
