Now that the semester is almost over, finals are just around the corner.

Finals week can be a stressful week for college students. During this semester’s finals week, El Camino College is bringing back Finals Madness Week.

Finals Madness will be hosted on campus in the Schauerman Library from June 6 through June 8 from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. Scantrons, printing, blue books, food, drinks and coffee will all be provided free to students attending the event.

The Associated Students Organization hosts and started the event in 2018, with the goal of helping students pass their finals by extending library hours and keeping various resources open for students.

Associated Students Organization (ASO) Commissioner of Human Resources Sidney Lee is leading the Finals Madness Week event this semester.

“It’s a tradition at El Camino, ASO typically hosts Finals Madness for both the fall session and spring session but because of COVID, we haven’t had it,” Lee said. “But now we are bringing it back so that is really exciting.”

The purpose of this event is to help provide a free area that is open late for students to study for their finals by offering a place that will allow students to focus, finish their work and study as they wrap up the semester with minimal distractions.

“We want all of our students to be successful and this is one of the ways that we could support them in their journey to passing their classes,” Lee said. “Studying is not really my idea of a fun time, but maybe when you’re studying with friends, it’s an easier process to get through.”

Assistant Director of the Library and Learning Resources Center Sheryl Kunisaki has been a part of Finals Madness in past semesters and is one of the few faculty members that are supervising the event.

“We wanna give students a nice, comfortable, warm and welcoming space to study during finals,” Kunisaksi said. “During the regular school year we are closed at 7 p.m. but we know during finals week, students are up far longer than that and they want to gather as to work in groups.”

All students are asked to enter through the Distance Education 166 room. There will be sign-ups, in case anyone gets lost or isn’t sure where to enter.

There will be three rooms open and available for students to use.

One will be a collaborative room which held in the tutoring room on the second floor, a quieter room held in the study room with the computer labs, and the last room is referred to as a “break room” where there will be food and drinks available for students.

Library and Learning Resource specialist Erica Yates will be supervising the event and helping students in need of printing services or require assistance with basic writing needs.

Yates expressed how important Finals Madness Week is and how it serves the student community here at El Camino.

“When ASO first came to us about it, they made a good argument as to why it should be hosted in the library,” Yates said. “There were a lot of students at that time who didn’t have access to computers, printers or things of that nature in their home. [ASO] really spoke to it as being an equity issue, which it was.”

Yates supported the event from its inception and believed in its ability to help student workers who could not attend regular library hours.

“I thought it was a great idea and it would be helpful to the students,” Yates said, “It turned out that both ASO and I were right because we got really good numbers.”