Studco Plans: the New Sophomore-at-Large and Mental Health Initiatives

It’s been almost a month since the Sophomore Class elected their Sophomores-at-Large, Srivinay (Vinay) Tummarakota (’19) and Alex Zhong (’19). They are currently gathering sophomores’ opinions with events such as the recent class talks. In a recent interview, Vinay says, “We’re going to continue to try to reach out to sophomores and see the problems that we as a class have. We want to make the sophomores feel comfortable here.”

One of the main issues the Sophomores-at-Large are targeting are sophomore study hours. StudCo is in the process of deciding whether sophomores should be allowed to complete parts of their study hours during their free mods. That way, conflict with many club and sports activities is avoided.

As a part of StudCo, Vinay not only works on projects for the sophomore class. Some future projects include improving the Sodexo area for studying and increasing vegetarian meal options. The current state of the SIR program and the new quiet-zone policy in the IRC are also being discussed.

“Being a Sophomore-at-Large really helps me learn a lot more about the campus, the faculty, and the students. It makes me more aware about what’s going on at IMSA,” Vinay says.

One of the biggest issues StudCo is addressing is Mental Health at IMSA. “Mental health is a huge problem here at IMSA,” Vinay says. “Especially for the sophomores. I personally feel that second quarter is going to be a lot harder than first quarter, so mental health is an especially important topic.”

StudCo is planning to hold a campus-wide Mental Health Initiative Week, tentatively planned for the end of November. This includes a series of activities to promote healthy living at IMSA, ways to remove the stigma of mental health, and methods of combating stress.