Relax like a mummy

Between school, work and home stress, students often struggle to find the time and space to pause, breathe and be mindful.

What if that place was available on the Pierce College campus?

Pierce should promote mindfulness and meditation through clubs and spaces, benefiting students in their daily lives and increasing their academic success.

"Meditation is believed to help relieve stress, lessen depression, lower blood pressure and improve sleep [while boosting] memory, mood and even social intelligence," according to Aurora Reyes, director of Career Development and well-being at UCLA.

Pierce provides stress groups for students led by mental-health professionals with the goal of helping the participants manage their daily stress.

But Pierce can do more.

Other colleges offer mindfulness workshops, meditation rooms, and even clubs for students to de-stress and look inward.

Halloween is a popular season as people get excited to see their favorite scary movie and drink their pumpkin spice lattes. Other Halloween fanatics enjoy decorating their homes with scary inflatable decors, lightings and posters. Some even convert their homes into haunted houses.

In 2014, Pierce held its last “Halloween Harvest,” which consisted of a 5-acre corn maze, food stands and games. The event was popular and many people were disappointed when it closed down.

Pierce College should bring back their Halloween spirit by holding a “Spooky Season” for the month of October. It’s an event that can help bring the community and students together.

It could begin the second week of October through the first week of November so that Dia de los Muertos could also be celebrated.

The event could consist of pumpkin carvings, crafts, corn mazes, face painting, a haunted house and some rides, depending on the funds. Pierce clubs could be involved by creating the haunted house. A movie screening of different scary movies could be held at the newsroom.roundupnews@gmail.com

Great Hall with candies, popcorn and drinks for purchase.

Pierce clubs could be also set up trick-or-treat tables for people to come to on Halloween.

The Art department could host a “spooky crafts” table to let students make decorations to display in classrooms and around the campus.

ASO could host a costume contest with a prize for the winner to encourage students to participate in the event.

As with the Halloween Harvest, the new event can be held at Pierce’s farm and there should be a small fee for people who are not Pierce students to help pay for it all.

ASO should also host it, for at least the first year, to see how it goes.

Pierce students and the community would be able to enjoy Halloween activities without going far away and it would help Pierce get more involved with the community.

Hamilton College has a meditation room in their Center for Religion and Spiritual Life. It’s open for students, faculty and staff throughout the week for quiet reflection and also hosts their Meditation Club and Yoga Club. It is equipped with yoga mats, meditation pillows and plants.

While the Botanical Garden at Pierce offers an environment for students to unwind, it is susceptible to weather, campus noise and foot traffic. An indoor space would block outdoor distractions.

Pierce should transform a room into a controlled space for students and faculty to meditate and reflect. Simple rules limiting the number of people in the room and the noise level would make it an ideal spot for people to de-stress. Students would sign-up in advance for 30-minute time slots and could walk-in if the space is unbooked.

The room should have comfortable seating, peaceful lighting and few distractions. By using an empty room on campus, the college would avoid any cost, making this an inexpensive transition.