By Jenna French
It’s that time of year again: finals week. This, of course, is the most stressful week of the semester as students cram for finals and write their major term papers all struggling to make the grade. The end of the semester sneaks up and it’s hard to get priorities in order while maintaining a healthy degree of sanity.Luckily, to help counteract all of the stress that comes with finals, the Student Government Association and the REACH Office sponsor the Finals Fiesta and Finals Blitz so students can help diffuse the tension of taking tests and writing papers.Finals Fiesta is scheduled for today, from 7-10 p.m. in the Red Barn. “There will be a lot of breakfast food and a dessert bar,” said Sowmya Srinivasan, SGA vice president of Student Services. “There will also be massage therapists and a DJ on hand to give students a break from studying.” Games such as poker will also be provided as well. The SGA will provide coffee from 10 a.m.-noon at Ekstrom Library.”We are anticipating somewhere between 300 and 400 people,” Srinivasan said. The SGA has sponsored Finals Week activities for more than 20 years and is always a popular event, she added. During finals week, the REACH office also serves free food, but the academic organization also hands out pamphlets on test-taking strategies.Drop-in tutoring is available from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. in the Math Resource Center located in the west end of Strickler Hall, room 106, and the Computer Resource Center located in the east end of Strickler, room 331.According to REACH Executive Director Kathy Leist, the Math Center will offer reviews for areas such as Math 111 and several developmental math classes. The Learning Resource Center provides a variety of supplemental instruction and tutoring sessions.A full schedule of the events and tutoring services offered by REACH can be accessed at http://www.reach.louisville.edu. The Web site lists all the different times and locations for tutoring opportunities, as well as various aspects of the Finals Blitz schedule.
