With the combination of fresh sunshine, new Netflix seasons, and seemingly every artist ever dropping an album, the temptation to avoid school responsibilities is heightened as the days left in the quarter decrease. With the end of the school year looming just a week away, the spring quarter “dead week” packs an extra-stressful punch.

Redhawks are not left to wallow in their dead week distress for long. Student leaders for the Center for Student Involvement (CSI) enjoy the quarterly event, Sugar Rush, hosted by the staff and Graduate Assistants (GAs) in the office.

“It’s so fun. Basically before finals week, they all coordinate with each other to make sweets or bring in sweets and they come in and set it up [in our office]. There’s oreos and other candies, and it’s usually gone within a day,” senior Kasi Gaarenstroom, Vice President of Student Events & Activities Council (SEAC), said.

CSI houses SEAC, Dance Marathon, Student Government of Seattle University (SGSU), RedZone and many other student groups participate. Angel Asuncion-Reed, Assistant Director of CSI, usually bakes a homemade treat, inclusive of different dietary restrictions and allergies, of course. The more eccentric treats come from Redzone, SEAC and Dance Marathon advisor Nayland Olsen, known previously to make rootbeer floats, Italian sodas or the Australian-delicacy known as Tim Tam bombs.

“It’s just a really nice thing that [the staff and GAs] do for all of us every quarter” Gaarenstroom said.

This quarter, the seniors that work in the office will receive a CSI pin to wear on their graduation robe at a ceremony that takes place during Sugar Rush. The ceremony brings a bittersweet en1ding to the seniors’ hard work for the office.

If Laffy Taffys aren’t enough to get you out of the dead-week funk, head down the hall to the Office of Wellness and Health Promotion (WHP) for some tips on how to overcome stress and the anxiety associated with stressful situations.

According to the WHP website, “being aware of your stressors and how you experience stress can enable you to better manage it.”

If drinking two cups of coffee every morning has left you shaking like a ball of procrastination and caffeine, maybe switching to one cup, or better yet a natural (but still highly caffeinated) green tea will help you manage your stress better. Taking a step back from the current rush of end-of-the-year stress and realizing the deadlines and unreasonable workloads out of one’s control is the first step to alleviating unnecessary stress.

“When I feel like I need to cry, I let myself, because holding in tears is never good. Then I get a pedicure,” senior Alicia Ezekial-Pipkin said. This dead week, Ezekial-Pipkin is sporting a fresh baby-blue pedicure.

Sophomore computer science major Jesse Dufresne has sprinkled in a steady stream of plant shopping sprees this past month to brighten up his workload. With a growing collection and budding love for potted plants of all shapes and sizes, Dufresne’s humble Bellarmine dorm has been transformed into a mini-greenhouse.

“I have been to the Plant Shop every weekend for the past four weeks, and it is bad for my bank account,” Dufresne said.

Dufresne’s go-to flora and fauna stops include Plant Shop Seattle and Glass Wings.

“I haven’t had a lot of [my plants] for that long. I think it’s not so much the taking care of it at the moment [that I enjoy], but I want to see what happens in the future… I want to see how big they get and I want to take care of them to see where they go,” Dufresne said.

In the workload gearing up to dead week, Dufresne called upon the guidance of his Instagram followers weigh in on his decision to either start on a paper or go to Plant Shop Seattle to procrastinate.

“I didn’t look at the results and I went anyways, and I got two more plants,” Dufresne said.

Dufresne’s collection spans from stalks of bamboo to small palms and Birds of Paradise. He checks up on his plants on Tuesdays for some watering and general maintenance.

This dead week, if it’s a moment of mindfulness, or a spurt of delicious sweets, or maybe an impulse spree to the plant shops of Capitol Hill, Seattle’s got you covered.

“If the plants are getting through it,” Dufresne said. “I’m getting through it.”

Jacqueline may be reached at
[email protected]