Feeling flustered and freaked out about finals week? While cranking down those energy drinks and shortening the lengths of your fingernails in stress, maybe you could take a trip back to childhood. The South Cunningham resident assistants (RAs) along with Residence Education Coordinator (REC) Zachary Guca are holding five nights starting in November to December to feature five Disney movies in the Programming Center located on the fourth floor of South Cunningham.
The dates for the event include "Mulan" on Nov. 28 at 7 p.m., "Hercules" on Nov. 29 at 9:30 p.m., "The Sword in the Stone" on Dec. 1 at 8 p.m., and "Tarzan" on Dec. 2 at 6 p.m..
Jesse Schrader, Cunningham RA, said, "Each semester, we have to do two theme weeks, and we serve a campus-wide program where we do one theme week. And we wanted to do something right around end of the year, finals or something. So, in case you had a night where you wanted it to be stress free, you had something fun you could do where you could learn something with it."
"We wanted something fun, but something relaxing at the same time," said Elizabeth Pierce, one Cunningham RA.
Joseph Sanford, an additional Cunningham RA, said, "I think it's relaxing, and each movie has an educational aspect to it, so residents not only walk away feeling more relaxed, and better about last week of classes and finals week, but they also walk away with having learned a little more ... We thought Disney was known for being relaxing, and fun and upbeat, and each of the movies has a really good moral behind it too."
Shrader stated, "Any theme week that is done or any program an RA does — we don't do these programs just to do programs, to have fun with it. We do it for the residents of the building. We do it so that you guys have something to do, not just study, class, D-Hall, sleep. You know there are other options here."
The goal of uniting the Cunningham residents through student-run programs, as stated by Schrader, is for "the ability to better a community. Being a RA is the simple fact of being able to go and help people."
Shrader stated, "I wouldn't be able to benefit the area I live in or work in as much as I could if I wasn't a RA."
Pierce said, "The benefit of being a RA is that you're more in the community. You get to know more people on campus. You can walk around campus, and you recognize somebody if you're just somebody who lives on campus and goes to class, but as a RA, you actually know them and you're more likely to know them."
Cunningham RAs recommend students to stay calm and stay collected, find time to kick back and relax with Disney Classics while relaxing with friends. Space out your studying, don't cram, have lots of rest and good luck on your exams.
