Students release their fall semester stress at The Counseling Center and The Center for Student Engagements’ Cookies and Coloring event, held in the Kessel Student Center.

The event offers students the chance to de-stress from the semester and learn ways to practice self-care. With calming zen music playing in the background, students could sit back, eat a snack, and color to their heart’s desire. Students were, at first, wary of the event, but as time went on more began to gather for a cookie and a coloring page or just to sit and chat.

The Cookies and Coloring event is a part of the Counseling Center’s new Wellness Wednesdays initiative that began this semester. Caitlin Gardner, the Outreach Coordinator for Groups and Wellness at Pace, said “the idea behind [Cookies and Coloring] was to promote different ways to be well and to tend to mental health.” 

Jazalyn Brown (‘26) and Evelise Flores (‘26) stopped by the event with a group of other students to check it out, and both said that the event was relaxing. Flores said, “[the event] is at a good time in between classes, in between a lot of things to do.”

The Counseling Center offers groups and workshops for wellness, including support for substance use throughout the academic year. For those looking for assistance with their mental health and well-being privately, they offer individual treatments and assessments. In the upcoming weeks, the Counseling Center will be visiting the UNV 101 classes and giving an overview of the services available to students and how they can access these services.