Coffee cram for midterms with free brew
Sydney Norris
Antelope Staff
Nothing suits a cold night in October as well as a warm cup of free coffee while studying for midterms. Miranda Cherry was just hired to help with the Learning Commons general events.
A senior organizational communications major with an emphasis in event planning graduating in December, Cherry saw the discomfort in other students’ eyes when they were told to go visit the Learning Commons. Cherry took the initiative to bring coffee into the mix, and make it something enjoyable for students, rather than a daunting task.
“Recently the learning commons kind of hired me to help with just general events, because we want more foot traffic,” Cherry said.
Oct. 5, Chapman Swifts, a local coffee shop, teamed up with the Learning Commons to provide free coffee to UNK students who came between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. The next Caffeine Break for the Learning Commons will be held on Wednesday Oct. 11 of Midterms. “Studying doesn’t have to be this crazy stressful time, especially during midterms,” Cherry said. On Tuesday, free coffee was available at Kitt’s Coffee House (also known as Calico Coffee Company) and on Wednesday, the Caffeine Break will be held in the Learning Commons, stocked with free coffee from Brewed Awakening.
“A lot of the time the Learning Commons feels like triage for students: they kind of come up when there is an emergency. We want students to start realizing that it’s a place to hang out and study. and it’s there for support before you really need the emergency care,” Cherry said.
Located upstairs in the Library, the Learning Commons’ goal is to help students with homework so students to leave ready for the test and confident in learning the materials as well.
While attending the Learning Commons, you can also provide them with your teacher’s name and the teacher will be notified that you have visited the Learning Commons.
The Learning Commons provides tutoring as well as success coaching, a writing center, supplemental instruction and language support. Most tutors are students who excel in a specific subject and are trained to help those who need a deeper understanding of the materials. Success coaching, on the other hand, consists of one-on-one academic support to help students learn different techniques for studying and find other avenues to succeed in classes.
“We kind of talked about ‘how do we get students to come up to the Learning Commons to study?’” Cherry said. “Instead of making the students come to us, we thought we should go to the students, because most students at UNK use Baristas, Chapman Swifts and Kitts Coffee House, the Calico Coffee Company, to study; so we thought ‘Why not go to them and they can see hey we are here, we’re around, come and join us.’”
Candy Smith, a tutor for Math 106 for Liberal Arts did just that. While helping students with homework, she sat in the warm, cozy seating area at Chapman Swifts while students enjoyed a nice, hot cup of free coffee.
“The hope is to just get more people to realize that the learning commons is there for support and the goal is to just make sure that students are having fun,” Cherry said.
Miranda Cherry, a senior at the University of Nebraska Kearney, introduces the Learning Common’s ” Caffeine Break”; which promotes the Learning Commons and provides free coffee during Midterms week to students. The next event happens in the Learning Commons upstairs with free coffee from Brewed Awakening Wednesday, Oct. 11.
Sydney Norris
Video at the Antelope
