With finals season upon us, students are sticking to their laptops and their textbooks to prepare for the year’s last assignments and exams. Although, the outdoor spaces and workplaces Pace offers are getting their use and many students can be seen taking their work outdoors, their time is limited by the battery life on their devices.

Technology is a necessity for college students with online courses, blackboard assignments and typed presentations and papers to create. Many students even utilize their laptops during classes to take notes and follow along with the lectures posted on blackboard.

However, these devices need to be constantly charged and the demand for outlets everywhere is high.

The university has created beautiful sitting areas for students to eat, do work and hang out with their friends near the Kessel Student Center, library and dorm buildings like Alumni and Elm Halls. However, these sitting areas don’t have enough outlets and extension cords connected to them where students can plug in their devices to continue working.

For students, it’s extremely frustrating when a laptop dies mid-way through writing a report or having to skip-out on the already-limited sunlight hours because there isn’t an outlet available to charge a device. A decision should not have to be made between the outdoors or finalizing homework.

Being outdoors and having exposure to fresh air and sunlight has scientifically been proven to help the mental and physical health of one’s well-being. A BBC article unveiled that spending time in nature can help limit the impacts of depression and reduce stress.

Furthermore, studies have shown that the outdoors can help improve one’s focus and  memory, which is critical for long studying days and end-of-the semester blues.

The university should take an initiative to insert outdoor outlets around various spots on campus to help improve student satisfaction, along with the mental and physical well-being of the students. Mental health awareness is a topic of concern and is very prevalent among college campuses.

To that extent, this would be one step in the right direction towards improving and helping students maintain their well-being and limit side effects from mental illnesses. Furthermore, this would increase the amount of students spending time outdoors, thus creating a more lively atmosphere on campus.     

The conglomeration of students studying and socializing outdoors would help campus life at Pace become alive and improve the well-being of students, especially after a long winter of being indoors and running to class through the frigid temperatures.