The last two weeks of school are the most stressful time for students. 88% of college students have reported that college life is stressful and that 89% of college students were stressed during their semester. With finals just around the corner, stress levels are rising for students, and Cabrini needed to think of something to help relax their students during these stressful times.
Decorating cookies is a great way to take students’ minds off of finals. This year on Dec. 7, the Wolfington Center held a cookie decorating event to help ease some end-of-the-semester stress and pressure.
The Wolfington Center hosted the event from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and students and faculty were able to stop in at any time. There was an assortment of cookies and gingerbread houses with many colors of icing and candy toppings to choose from. They even offered homemade hot chocolate in a slow cooker, keeping it warm throughout the whole event. Participants could add whipped cream and marshmallows to their drinks as well.
Sabrina Thompson, graduate criminology student, had helped set up and plan this event. “This was an easy way to bring students together and hopefully distract them from all the stress that the end of the semester brings.”
Julia Klos, accounting graduate student, said, “This week has been really stressful for me. And so having a little break and getting a sugary snack, was just what I needed.”
If decorating Christmas sweater cookies was not enough to help bring on the holiday mood, there was also festive Christmas music in the background keeping spirits high.
Posters were hung around campus and invitations were sent to all Cabrini emails to help spread awareness of the event.
Abby Van Houten, sophomore psychology major, said, “I saw the email and knew this was something I could do to help distract me from a stressful week.”
Klos, on the other hand, got the inside scoop on the event because her roommate, Sabrina Thompson, works for the Wolfington Center.
A creative outlook
Students let their imaginations run wild while decorating. From fun stripes to Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, the Christmas sweater cookies were extravagant. Each sweater was different and unique in its own way, not to mention very neat and paid attention to detail.
Students also decorated gingerbread houses. The creativity was off the charts with the different themes. Thompson decorated hers like a Christmas cottage, using a chocolate heart as the door and colorful lights made of icing and chocolate-covered candy lights to string along the sides.
Van Houten decorated her sweater cookies with gold candy pearls and glitter gold stripes because she said her grandma used to wear a sweater just like it, and this was what reminded her of Christmas.
Klos decorated two different cookies, one with red and white stripes and a gummy Christmas tree, and another with a green base and giant hand-drawn reindeer, giving particular attention to detail on the collar and cuffs, adding gold sparkles, tiny gingerbread men, and even little snowflakes.
Thompson helped set up and plan the event. She also helped promote it to the students and faculty in partnership with the Wolfington Center and the Center for Student Success, which is a support service here at Cabrini that offers a wide range of resources and one-on-one support to students.
“It was just a really relaxing event right before finals to do something creative,” Thompson said.
The event achieved its goal: to destress students and bring the Cabrini community together.
