Kansas State’s first-ever Pause Day will take place Oct. 11, offering students a chance to take a break and ready themselves for the second half of the semester.
Anna Coke, a junior majoring in regional and community planning, spearheaded the Pause Day initiative.
“It’s a long time [between] Labor Day and Thanksgiving, and I was hearing my friends talk about how they were so tired they just needed a break,” Coke said. “I was like, ‘I’m in a position where I can actually do something about it,’ at least try to do something about it, so I thought it would be kind of foolish if I didn’t try because I know the benefits of having, like, that one day off.”
Coke said she used her connections from student senate to ask other students what they thought of having a mental health day, receiving many positive responses.
“I wrote up the legislation and tried to talk to as many people as I could … most of the people that I talked to were all for it,” Coke said. “So then it finally passed through student senate, had no objections there, and I didn’t hear anything for a while … so I emailed Dr. Lane, who’s the Dean of Students. I emailed the provost at the time, I emailed Kathleen Hatch, who is the Morrison Family Center vice president … [and] I just literally sat down and talked with them.”
Coke said they all “loved the idea” and it was eventually agreed upon that there would be a three-year trial period.
“… We’re just kind of seeing where it goes,” Coke said.
Jesse Perez Mendez, provost and executive vice president of K-State, said mental health is something society needs to spend more time on.
“You know, life is just getting more stressful, as you know, as things in the world pop up,” Mendez said. “As far as I know, for those being in college, either going here in your undergraduate degree or going to graduate school, there’s even more stressors overall. … There’s a sort-of a pause in the spring semester with spring break, and there’s not really an equivalent, you know, halfway through the semester for the fall and semester.”
Pause Day falls just one day after World Mental Health Day. Mendez said there will be programming around campus Oct. 7-11.
Paige Vulgamore, SGA president, said Pause Day has received positive feedback from students.
“People are just excited to see that they have a break,” Vulgamore said. “This gives them a chance, you know, to have a longer weekend, take time for themselves. So we’ve heard a lot of positivity from students that have heard about it. This is probably one of the biggest initiatives or things that SGA has ever done that I’ve actually heard students, like, talk to me about and they’ve wanted to know more and learn more.”
Vulagmore said in addition to Pause Day, there will be a Wildcat Pause week where students can attend several events throughout the week to encourage student health and well-being.
“The key aspect of this is not everyone needs the same things on those days,” Vulgamore said. “Some people need to go home and sleep all day. Some people need to go spend time with their family. Some people need to use that day to catch up on homework and everything they feel behind on, to feel like they’re not drowning in work anymore. So you know, everyone can use that day differently to what best would help their student health and well-being, but we’re just encouraging students to, not only on that day, but that, and we that that whole week, to just be reminded of why health and well being is important, and why K-State is pushing to help students with their health and well-being.”
