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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 2000)
Wednesday, October.; bdnesday, October 4, 2000 Jews in Brief shman runot Jerway at po lay and Thursday are:® stage of the Frestini Council elections s for president and ent positions, lissa Baumann, a fres renewable natural ;s major, and JosephUi a freshman busim istration major, aretl ?sidential hopefuls.TIk isibilities as presidi include taking charge uncil and delegating 1 Page 3 THE BATTALION h cii oiAt" STRESS ether petting electronic dogs or eating ice cream, programs emphasize coping with anxiety vice presidential ce- s are Katy Lowe, tan English and antlt major, and Meredi a freshman gene' 5 major, ig booths will be locaif /lemorial Student Cenli y Stuart Hutson <e Battalion When Ginny Robbins, a freshman psychology major, ;gan classes less than six weeks ago, she did not know yw much stress she would feel after her first round of illege tests. “Everyone had told me how hard college would be,” obbins said. “But you don’t really know how hard it is jtttil you experience it. I don't know how I did on the first sts, but 1 have a feeling I’m going to be working hard e rest of the semester.” Robbins is not the only student at Texas A&M feeling e harsh pinch of stress. Across campus, students are earing grimaces as they flood C. Evans Library,]to rar j es anc i study centers Building, All Fa j n hopes of conquering that the Commons Loblweast known as academia. If there is any time during e school year that can be pin- ointed as the time where the ajority of students are going to it a wall — it will be now,” said r. Andy Smith, the associate irector of counseling for Stu- » UT faculty; lent Counseling Service (SCS). ■This is after the first round of IN (AP) — (j.S. Soclfsts, but before midterms, so Commissioner Kenre^at will bring stress, academi- I join the faculty atH| a ^y speaking. B. Johnson School! “Also, for the freshman stu- Dining Hall and Zarj ?ring Center. Stucte vote online /ote.tamu.edu. ton official fairs at the University Austin. a 1978 graduate of ool, will start Janua'. fter his term as cor] er ends, the universii sday. has spent more tl ides in Washington. fonts, it will bring stress, social speaking, because they have keen here over a month now. 'hat means that the general feeling of homesickness will ost likely have faded away, and any more substantial roblems will be emerging and noticeable.” No matter the source of stress that students may be feeling, Smith said, it is important to find ways to cope nd use stress productively. Kim Callier, a junior chemical engineering major, said or more than a decaoi,i| ie manages her stress through hobbies, ol Hill, serving for se\| “j do things... like pottery or stained-glass making,” s as legislative directoifehe said. “It’s great; it is like a class, but you don’t get r Sen. Bill Bradley, traded. It’s just fun.” , the Clinton administra For students who have yet to find stress relief, the SCS el served as asstetawtls holding its fourth annual Beat the Hell out of Stress ' for management ay it the Department d Human Services,1 ate director of the Oft ement and Budgets enate confirmed him;? :urity Commissioner, ast year was the fin of the distinguish of the University! duate School. program today in the Memorial Student Center (MSC) Flagroom. The program will feature booths displaying ways for students to lighten their stress loads. “There will be a booth demonstrating yoga and tai chi, and, of course, there will be the ever-popular massage booth, where several masseuses will come in and give free massages,” Smith said. “The Brazos Animal Shelter will also be there to give people a chance to play with a cat or a dog. They will also give the more-impulsive stu dents a chance to adopt an animal if they get attached. Petting a cat or a dog is a great way to relieve stress.” The program will also have a booth run by A&M’s staff psychologist, Dr. Steven Strawn, devoted to ex plaining the physiological as pects of stress. There will also be a chance for students to sample biofeedback, a way of control ling stress through physiological relaxation. “This shows the connection between the mind and body, and the importance of paying atten tion to them both,” Smith said. “We are trying to show students how to deal with stress from all sides of the matter.” For some people, nothing helps dealing with stress more than ice cream or a shopping spree. The program has some thing for them too. A booth will be open to dis tribute small cups of free ice cream, and a booth called “prize central” will give any one attending the event the chance to get a free prize. More than 70 organizations — from the Dallas Cow boys to the World Wrestling Federation — have donat ed prizes. “Everyone who comes will get a prize,” said Amy Rucker, the business coordinator for the SCS. “You just have to do a few activities, like the putting green or the football toss. You don’t even have to win.” For students who do not want to adopt a living pet from the Brazos Animal Shelter, one of the prizes is Tekno, the electronic dog. As fun and as stress-relieving as these activities are, Beat the Hell Out of Stress: mSC Flagroom 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Anxiety Screening: RISC Room 226 3 p.m. - 5 p.m. Million Mile magination Engineering Leadership Conference 10am-4pm. October 14, 2000 College Station Conference Center ftware Agent and Find cures for man genome. ntcmct in a race for 0 ' to work, and reward •rid and more! com/utexas. Ettiquette Luncheon hosted by Aggielife Editor inion Editor on, Photo Editor hoto Editor Night News Editor Copy Chief tadio Producer >h Friday during the fall an! ;sion (except University liol' Paid at College Station,W &M University, llllTAMd xas A&M University in tire vs offices are in 014 Ree! E-mail: Thebattalion@W- i or endorsement by W 2696. For classified ad# nd office hours are 8 A&M student to pick nf> subscriptions are$60pc [ Dr $10 a month. Tochaf Corporate Seminars Team Design Competition Open to all engineers and engineering societies For more info or to sign up call 847-8567 or come by WERC 219. Cost is $5 payable by cash Sponsored by Student Engineers' Council http:// sec.tamu.edu there will still be some people whose stress and anxiety will never be cured by petting a cat or getting a massage. These people are plagued by constant panic, anxiety, difficulty in concentrating, and extreme obsessions and compulsions. For those people, the SCS is offering a free anxiety-disorder screening today in the MSC. “Now is important to catch and treat anxiety disorders in the students’ lives,” said Dr. Nancy Stebbins, a SCS psychiatrist who will be directing the screening. “The late teens and early 20s is a perfect time to treat disorders before they turn into problems that will affect the rest of their lives.” Among the disorders that will be screened for will be social phobias, the anxiety of social situations; obsessive-compul sive disorders, the need to do things in a particular order or a particular number of times paired with an over ly perfectionistic attitude; and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Stebbins said PTSD may play a large part in the screenings this year. “After the Bonfire in cident, many students may be experiencing this to a degree where it is in terfering with their every day lives,” she said. “Peo ple need to know that this isn’t something that al ways goes away by itself and that it is something that can cause real problems. Toughing it out by yourself may not be the best solution.” Stebbins said students should be concerned about PTSD if they relive the events involuntarily, have unexpected flashbacks brought on by items related to the incident, have recur ring nightmares, have a sense of a short ened future or an early death, or have become unable to hold close relationships with others. “The real trick is being able to listen to yourself and others when they are trying to tell you that you need help,” Smith said. “Getting help is not the act of a cow ard or a weakling — it is the act of a true leader and a winner. It is also an important part of the learning process that you come to college to get.” ADRIAN CALCANEO/Thr Battalion 2004 Texas Ave. S (979) 693-2619 In Bryan: 725 Villa Maria Manor East Shopping Center Phone: (979)823-5923
