The Student Union Board (SUB) hosted a free drop-in Mental Health Kit event at the M-Shop in the Memorial Union to give students a chance to destress before finals prep week and focus on their well-being.

The end of the semester can be a chaotic and stressful time for students. With finals around the corner, students are waiting in anticipation of their exams and cramming in preparation. In an attempt to prepare themselves for finals, students can often wear themselves out and put a strain on their mental health. To assist in this stressful time, the board proposed the Mental Health Kit event in an attempt to aid students with their mental health during exam season.

The DIY kits featured fidget toys, squishies, chewing gum, chocolates, putty, stickers and other items to pick and choose from to bring a smile to students’ faces. They also included cards with mental health resources for students looking for support. At the event, students were welcome to stay to decorate their boxes, spend time with friends and sip free hot cocoa. The event also featured a raffle for a heated blanket and an ISU hat.

The event was an opportunity for students to take their minds off of their upcoming tests and instead focus on their mental health and taking care of their well-being during this stressful time.

“It’s really centered on helping students succeed towards the end of the year…to kind of incentivize getting through that final push of the semester,” SUB Multicultural and Awareness Co-Director Olivia Thompson said.

The Mental Health Kit event was aimed to give students time to relax and acted as a breather for students to take a break from studying, giving them multiple tools to help decompress.

“We know it’s a very stressful time in general because it’s right before finals, so it just gives kids a space to wind down and make a little kit,” SUB Multicultural and Awareness Co-Director Tamia Brown said. “It gives you something to look forward to, too, once it gets to the end of the year.”

The event allowed students that are caught up in the hectic whirlwind that is end-of-semester exams to take their minds off of classes, focus on self-care and create their own tool kit to take with them.

“It’s good to have something to keep your mind off the stress of finals and not just in the library with our heads in the books 24/7,” Grace Armstrong, a first-year studying civil engineering, said.

For more information on the Student Union Board, visit their website.