By Ali Schmitz
Special to In Motion
During any normal day at the College Writing Center, it’s a quiet, pencils-on-paper scratching for words atmosphere. Occasionally, whispers are heard between students and tutors.
Finals week is the complete opposite. The room is packed with students in tears on the edge of desperation. Fearing failure, finals week has a negative connotation among students.
The Academic Support Center, in conjunction with the DSC/UCF Writing Center, is trying to change that with an event called “Cram for the Exam.”
May 6-8 the ASC will be holding the event in the Karl Resource Center, better known as the campus library in building 210. It starts at 7 nightly. Instead of traditional hours, the center will stay open until 10 p.m. “Cram for the Exam” will offer workshops on various subjects, such as math, history, government and English. In fact, virtually every subject taught at the College will be covered by volunteer and staff tutors.
ASC staff members don’t want the event to feel boring so they’ve devised activities and other strategies to relieve students’ stress. This includes yoga and meditation exercises, brain building and even therapy dogs for students to pet.
DeLand campus staff member Adriana Paiva expressed her excitement for the event. “Everyone gets very nervous around finals, so breathing techniques and pizza will calm students down.”
This is not the first “Cram for the Exam.”. The ASC also held one for introductory courses in March.
“Now we’re really focusing on everyone, which means we’ll have about 500 more students coming to visit us,” Daytona Campus ASC Supervisor Bob Balsamo said.
The entire ASC staff will be there to assist with various subjects. The March event was highly successful, according to Balsamo.
“We had one guy come and visit us on a Monday night, but he said he wasn’t sure he’d make it back on Tuesday because he had a soccer practice. Tuesday he came back and brought the entire team. Word of mouth is really going to help us. Everyone knows how much students like pizza,” Balsamo said.
For information on the event, call the ASC or CWC at 506-3673 or 506-3297, respectively.