Springfest, Whitworth’s annual pre-finals festival, is attended by hundreds of people. The question is not whether it is fun, but what the purpose of it is.
Many students have strong opinions about what Springfest is and what it means to them. Some emphasized relaxation as the purpose.
“The importance of [Springfest] is to relax at the end of the year and get ready for summer,” freshman Daniel Whitmore said.
Other students, as is the traditional Whitworth standard, reflected on the value of community in Springfest. Some said that they saw many friends they usually didn’t see and interacted with people that usually don’t come to on-campus events.
“Its a good way to build community and come together at the end of the year,” junior Mikaila Lenderman said.
Another purpose expressed by students was the importance of club recognition and interacting with the clubs on campus. Some of the clubs that attended include the Heritage of Latino Americans club (HOLA), International club and Swing and Ballroom Dance club.
“It is an awesome opportunity for the campus to come together and also for the campus to find out about the different clubs that are going on…and have unbridled fun together,” senior Becca Seideman said.
The strongest purpose that came up again and again was the value of Springfest as a pre-finals stress reliever. Many colleges across the country have pre-finals rituals, the most important being Dead Week, a week of silence, lack of tests/quizzes and sometimes lack of classes, that falls just before finals to give students adequate time to study.
Dead Week is “a time of reduced social and extracurricular activity preceding final examinations. Its purpose is to permit students to concentrate on academic work and to prepare for final examinations,” according to Stanford’s official Dead Week policy.
Dead Week is not a part of Whitworth’s academic schedule. Instead, Whitworth has Springfest.
“I think around the time of finals, you’re stressed out and you need something fun to get your mind off of it,” sophomore Naomi Guidry said. “Most colleges have a dead week and we don’t have that time to kind of get a break but also have solid time to study. I think this is our replacement for that.”
