PUTTING A DENT IN STRESS
Heavy equipment student Cornell Liefting takes a swing at a car with a sledgehammer Wednesday during the Lethbridge College Students’ Association car smash in support of the LCSA Food Bank.
With glass-shattering, fibre-glass shearing glee, students at Lethbridge College lit into an old Pontiac Grand Am with gusto for the college’s “Smash Stress” day on Wednesday.
“Students often say ‘I am so stressed out I really wish I could hit something,’ so I thought I would make that come to life for them,” says Lethbridge College Students’ Association (LCSA) Smash Stress organizer Joshlyn DeRosa. “It’s nearing the end of the semester and next week is exam week. So this is a chance to take a mental health break from school and take out some of that stress on a vehicle rather than taking it out on someone else.”
It was certainly working for digital communications student Brandon McGraw, who took out more than just his year-end semester stress on the automobile.
“It’s an absolute joy to be smashing this thing out here today,” he said with puffing breath and a big smile on his face, “especially with how long the semester has been. It gets all that stress out. I am also so over winter right now and I am taking some of that out on the car today, too.”
Dozens of other students also took their turns with the sledgehammer to take out their frustrations during Smash Stress, but the event also served as a fundraiser for the LCSA Food Bank. The cost of taking a few swings was a non-perishable food item or cash donation to the food bank.
“Our Lethbridge College Students’ Association does some great stuff to engage our students in activities other than classes,” said LC president Paula Burns, who came out to view the carnage for herself. “I think it’s a great stress release for the students. It’s getting near the last week of classes and there’s lots going on. You can tell it is the end of the year for them and it’s an opportunity to have some fun.”