On Thursday September 19, Swimmer performed at The Java Barn from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., during which students could dance, socialize, and listen to live music.
The following day, Association for Campus Entertainment (ACE) hosted Fall Fest, an outdoor concert featuring headliner Wale and special guest Flipp Dinero; the doors opened at 6 p.m., and the after-concert parties went on throughout the night.
Then, Saturday morning, students woke up for hikes set to depart as early as 5 a.m. in the tradition of “Peak Weekend,” put on by St. Lawrence’s Outing Club (O.C.), where all 46 of the Adirondack High Peaks were scaled.
With these three major events occurring on successive days, students were afforded an abundance of campus-sponsored activities, but did these events serve to encourage students to stray away from the intense party scene or foster sleep deprivation?
Freshman Cai Lemieux Mack attended both The Java Barn and Fall Fest the two nights prior to waking up at 4:30 a.m. on Saturday for an 18-mile hike up Allan Mountain.
Lemieux Mack said, “[Peak Weekend] was a good way for people to do something active and outdoors together without the need of drinking and partying, but I think that was overshadowed by the excessive amounts of partying at the other two events. Java and Fall Fest essentially led me into the intense partying, as concerts are usually regarded as the greatest form of entertainment on campus, and students often choose to go inebriated.”
Such events are created to provide students with healthy and engaging activities to socialize at, perhaps an alternative to the party scene that is often deeply rooted in alcohol or drugs. Rather, the consecutive and intense amount of events thwart students from keeping a healthy sleep and study schedule.
“I definitely threw off my sleep schedule and was overly tired for the hike the next day,” Lemieux Mack said. “After the hike, I came back feeling both mentally and physically exhausted for days afterwards. It was difficult to get back into a healthy sleep routine or get back on top of my studies.”
Considering these events are all run by different student-run organizations — the Java Theme House, ACE, and the O.C. — there lies the question of where compromises should be made.
Though the easiest option may appear to be allowing time between these major events, scheduling conflicts occur. This is especially true considering Java performances occur every Thursday, the nature of Peak Weekend beginning early in the morning and requiring a long time commitment hands itself to being a Saturday event, and finally Fall Fest depends on the tight-packed schedule of music artists. And these are not the only events paramount to campus life, so over-packed weekends will likely occur in the future this year.
Therefore, to combat the sleep deprivation many students faced in response to these consecutive events, the answer may be to restrict the time the events last into the night or the alcoholic consumption on such occasions.
Bombarding the student body with events is not serving to provide an alternative to the party scene, but rather encouraging even the students who do not usually enjoy the partying environment to engage in events detrimental to sleep and study schedules.