From Oct. 11-17 University Wellness and Student Life partnered together to create the week of “Staycation.” This was an opportunity for students to relieve stress and experience a “vacation” without having to leave the campus. The fall semester has been marching on without any breaks to help prevent the spread of COVID. However, this has taken a toll on the students and faculty. Many students are stressed and tired, not only because of the school year, but also because of many different things that have changed this year. The University wanted to provide students with some sort of a break even if they could not give an actual vacation. Here is where Staycation steps in.
Dominique Gummelt, the director of University Wellness and the executive director of the Andreasen Center for Wellness, said, “The administration, the staff and faculty at Andrews University really care about the wellbeing of every student and while the circumstances and complexities considering the context are really challenging, the intention of Fall Staycation was to add some positive options to the daily grind.”
Each day of Staycation had different items and events to go with those themes such as Stress-Free Sunday, Mindful Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Workout Wednesday, Thoughtful Thursday, Fluid Friday, and Spectacular Sabbath. Some of these events included a FIFA Tournament (an EA Sports video game) with prizes, therapy animals, opportunities to use the massage chair, and even free fruit smoothies. The culmination of all the events was the annual Fall Festival on Saturday, that this year was hosted on campus. The Fall Festival took place in front of the Campus Center with hayrides, a mechanical bull, pumpkin painting and more.
Joshua Li (senior, public health) said, “Even though it was a little chilly out it was still nice to grab some food and see some friends that I haven’t seen in a while. I was able to talk with my friends and forget about school if only for one night. The Fall Festival was always a great event, and even though it was a little bit different this year, I still enjoyed it.” Mostly, what students seemed to enjoy the most was being able to see their friends again despite their busy schedules. The Fall Festival brought out students from all across the campus to come together for a night of fun and community.
Brianna Croughan (senior, medical laboratory science) commented, “It was nice to be able to get out of my room and see many different people that I normally don’t get to see in my classes. I enjoyed the donuts and it was very entertaining to watch people fall off the mechanical bull.”
While students did enjoy some of the events, others still felt a little tired and would have preferred a different form of staycation. One individual stated, “Staycation didn’t feel like a vacation because it felt more like things were being added that I didn’t have time to participate in. Next time I would prefer if there were an extra day off or maybe having zoom classes instead of in-person classes.”
Even if you missed the events of Staycation, just keep pushing forward. There are only three more weeks of school before our Staycation becomes a vacation!
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.