College life is stressful for most students without the extra burden of problems within and off campus. The stress level increases during exam times. Learning to cope with stress while in college is the goal that spurred the foundation of Happiness Club five years ago in Northwestern University. And the movement spread among other campuses. In Penn State University, they have the Penn State Clown Nose Club, which organizes small acts of kindness for their peers to enjoy each academic year.
Variations of the theme
At Penn State, members of the Penn State Clown Nose Club wears a red foam ball nose during their events. One of their acts of kindness is the umbrella taxi wherein members escort students to classes during rainy days under an umbrella.
In other colleges, the theme could be giving lollipops to students after finals, while others provide hugs and free iced tea.
The events are simple and inexpensive, yet very endearing. For members, they aim to get students to have some time off and unwind, or have time to relax and smile, which are great stress relievers. Making someone feel special even for a short time is good therapy for both the giver and the receiver. Other college Happiness Clubs offer free compliments, flash mobs and other stress relievers that improve the morale of students.
At the campus of Evanston in Illinois, they are already planning to hold their third year of kite-flying event. They are also lining up a s’more bonfire, sand castle competition and even a therapy dog session.
Freshman Michael Nguyen who’s enrolled at the University of Texas-Austin has established a Happiness Club just three weeks ago and started the ball rolling by distributing 1,000 stickers with a smiley face on campus. Nguyen envisions that spreading happiness should be part of the student culture and everyday life, not just because one is a member of the Happiness Club.
Emily Lowe, Happiness Project co-director at Harvard University said they have a wall in the school that has been covered with Post-it notes filled with messages to remind undergraduate students to smile during their finals and answers on what makes them happy. With students getting more goal-driven and ambitious, they forget the simple things in life, such as taking time off to have fun and loosen up, so a Happiness Club becomes very important as a reminder to undergrads to take a break at times.
The Happiness Project at Harvard has also established a student challenge that is one-semester long. It involves the participation of 750 volunteers who are tasked to follow 10 goals each week. The goals benefit the different aspects of the volunteers’ health. One of the challenges is for volunteers to get as much sleep as they can each night, which has become a rarity in Harvard where competitions among students are very high.
The Clown Nose Club on the other hand is bringing back an age-old tradition – being friendly with strangers and members are approaching unknown students and talking to them, for they believe that this act could have a domino effect of encouraging others to do the same.
Making someone feel important and appreciated greatly lifts a person’s morale and makes him feel good about himself.
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