Despite the pressure that comes with the start of classes, there are always systems on Eastern Connecticut State University's campus to support its students. To ring in the new semester and encourage student engagement, Eastern's Arthur L. Johnson Unity Wing held an activity-packed open house on Jan 24.

Consisting of the Pride Center, Women's Center and Intercultural Center, the Unity Wing creates a safe place for all students, something that was evident through the positivity-centric stations at the open house. Julissa Pabon, Intercultural Center graduate assistant, recognized the importance of dealing with academic stress as she sat at their "coloring relaxation" table. "You can grab a couple of pages and take it on the go, or you can sit and relax and color and talk about anything you want to," Pabon explained. "And we're going to give out tips on ways that we think you can best stay organized for the semester." 

Similarly leaning toward an artistic side, the Women's Center allowed open house attendees to make decorative sand jars complete with written, positive affirmations about themselves - a way, graduate assistant Courtney Mayberry noted, to combat some of society's negative energy. The crafts are meant to be kept as motivating reminders. "We just want to throw a little positivity into the air and have our students remember the things that they like about themselves, and continue to look at them as things to get them through the year," Mayberry said.

Using notes to foster a connection with students, Pride Center graduate assistant Marcus Morales described the "Eye See You" project constructed for the open house. This allowed people to freely write down any problems that they feel go unseen, granting them recognition and promoting openness. "Different things - from identity issues, to health issues - there's no real structure to what the issue has to be, but it does look at how we raise awareness for things that people go through that we don't normally talk about in popular media or discussions," Morales stated.

The open house, set up "passport style" ensured that students visited all three centers, with their passport stamped at each station before getting to refreshments at the end.