To alleviate the stress of finals, Peer Advocates for Mental Wellness, Counseling Services and the Union Program Council hosted an event on Tuesday featuring three simple stress remedies: cats, coloring and cameras.
Related:
These students are helping save pets, one foster at a time, through Purple PAWS
The organizations collaborated with the Purple Power Animal Welfare Society to give students a break from studying. Tuesday was the first time cats have been a part of a UPC event.
The “Cats, Coloring and Cameras” event was held in the Cottonwood Room of the K-State Student Union where students had the opportunity to color printed out pictures of cats while they waited to pet the four cats provided by the Purple PAWS. After coloring and getting to know other members of the K-State family, students were able to pet the cats and take a picture with them that doubled as a sticker.
Connor McClain, sophomore in elementary education, said the event was a good way to de-stress during dead week.
“It was nice not to worry about studying for ten minutes,” McClain said.
The Union Program Council hosts several events each semester including events similar to “Cats, Coloring, and Cameras” to give students a break from the stress of studying.
Kate King-Hagen, fifth-year senior in human resources and president of UPC, said that UPC likes to include pets in these types of events.
“We try to do lighthearted events like today with pet therapy,” Hagen said, “A benefit is getting to meet members of the K-State family.”
Caroline Webster, sophomore in marketing, helped plan the event and said it was rewarding to see the turnout.
“It’s dead week so it was really nice to see people relaxing for an hour,” Webster said. “It was kind of fun to be able to give people something to remember from the event.”
Peer Advocates for Mental Wellness and Success plans to have another event that is similar to “Cats, Coloring, and Cameras” next semester called “Cats, Crafts, and Cameras” that will feature rock painting instead of coloring pages.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect the role Peer Advocates of Mental Wellness and Success, Counseling Services and Purple Power Animal Welfare Society had in organizing the event. UPC was not the principle organizer of the event.
A previous version of this article also incorrectly stated that UPC has hosted Pet Away Stress in the past. Pet Away Stress is hosted by Counseling Services and Peer Advocates of Mental Wellness and Success, in coordination with Purple PAWS. UPC has never played a role in the event.
