Keith Dietzenbach remembers starting and finishing a project in a single night — or actually, in about six hours.

“I had to give an informative speech at 8 a.m. — I started working on it at 2 a.m.” says Dietzenbach, junior in marketing. “This means picking a subject, researching it, writing the speech and making a visual aid.”

Dietzenbach finished his speech with little time to spare.

“By this time, it was time for class. I got all dressed up, went to class and had some time to write my notecards while other people were giving their speeches,” he says.

How does a student cope with such incredible stress?

“Lots of luck and caffeine pills,” Dietzenbach says.

Such tales of extreme procrastination are not uncommon during the final two weeks of the semester, when stress levels run high with projects to finish and finals to study for.

ISU students have devised methods to cope with stress.

“For stress from Finals Week, I grab a couple beers and sit in the hot tub in our garage for a little while,” says Paul Easker, junior in pre-business. “It works wonders.”

Michael Mallen, an intern psychologist at Student Counseling Services, says many of his end-of-the-semester clients are coping with high levels of stress.

“It’s pretty common for clients to feel a crunch from finals and graduating,” he says.

He says although it is hard to give a specific number or percentage, the main reasons students seek counseling are depression, anxiety and relationship issues.

“We try to work stress management techniques with the clients, informing them about anxiety, explaining where that anxiety comes from and talking about definitions of anxiety,” Mallen says.

Some of the techniques Mallen uses are breathing regulation, visualization and music relaxation.

“A lot of times, people feel shaky, even to the point of having panic attacks,” he says.

He says the levels of stress can vary from general and low to extremely acute and high.

“A lot of clients come in with recurring thoughts like, ‘I’m going to fail, I’m going to fail.’ We try to stop that train of thought before it gets out of control,” Mallen says.

The counseling services, located on the third floor of the Student Services Building, are free for all undergraduate and graduate students.

When students first come in, they go through a screening session to determine how much and what types of counseling they need.

Although Mallen says counseling is helpful, students can take more general steps to relieve stress.

“One thing that is helpful for stress is just taking some time out for yourself, even to the point where you have to schedule an hour to do something relaxing,” Mallen says.

He says sitting outside and exercising are good stress relievers, and that support from friends and family is key.