Every week, alternating between Mondays and Tuesdays, the Mason Library hosts a study night in room 104 from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
At study nights, students work together to complete homework while having social interactions and pizza with their peers, tutors and peer mentors.
Mark Schmidl-Gagne, a TRIO advisor with the Aspire program, organizes this event weekly, giving students opportunities to stop by.
According to Schmidl-Gagne, study nights have been around since spring 2014.
“The original idea for it came up from an incoming first-year student to me at an involvement fair that fall semester,” Schmidl-Gagne said. The student kicked out the idea to me, and I said it was a great idea and we had to do it. They subsequently graduated, and they now teach at a school out in the midwest and got their doctorate showing great things can come from study night.”
Writing tutors from the Center for Research and Writing are at this event to engage with students and help them with their writing needs.
One of the writing tutors, junior Kayla Turner, explained, “I can help with anything research or writing-related. I can check for grammar or structure, help find sources, and brainstorm. A lot of people ask me to read their paper over and leave comments.”
Turner said they get around 15 people per night, and she helps with what she can.
Turner also stated, “Mark puts on all the study nights, we get pizza, we play trivia with prizes, and he is such an amazing person who hosts study night and makes it super fun.”
Senior Lily Gross said she started coming to study night in the spring of her first year at KSC.
“I like going to study night because it helps me get my work done. I also like the trivia and the free pizza,” Gross said. “The fact that it is a more quiet environment helps me get my work done and there [are] less distractions than if I was in my room.”
Junior Ben Pratt described the peer mentor role.
“It is through the Aspire program where we do a lot of the things that academic advisors do but from a peer-to-peer perspective instead of a professional and student relationship,” Pratt said. “At study night, we help with study habits and succeeding academically, we are also a consistent face at study night and want to help the students.”
Schmidl-Gagne discussed study night attendance saying, “We keep stats, and this semester, it has been going quite well. We have been averaging over 16 students. This semester, we have had a total of 68 bodies attend four sessions of study night.”
For more information about the weekly study nights, students can check the Aspire calendar online with the exact dates of this event as the day of the week alternates but the time stays the same.
Ali Barretta can be contacted at
abarretta@kscequinox.com
