On Thursday, Dec. 12 Link Crew held their 3rd annual Cocoa and Cram event at the Downey High School Cafeteria. The event is targeted to make freshmen feel more prepared for their first finals and lower stress levels. 

Link Crew offered a productive studying environment to show that feeling stressed before finals is normal and provide help if needed. With free hot chocolate and the cafeteria spread with Link Crew students and teachers 

Link Crew leader, Cobe Rusiagas, 11, when asked how beneficial this event is for freshmen expressed how simply knowing that finals is not the end of the world can lower stress. 

“It’ll take more stress off,” Rusiagas Stated. “They’ll realize like finals aren’t really like a scary thing like the world makes it seem like it is.”

When preparing for monumental life events it is easy to get caught up in a neurotic mindset. It can be anything from getting a promotion at work, getting married, or having a child, although these are positive life occurrences, they still can cause anxiety. Finals, however, will not cause any major changes in your everyday life. 

Simply by knowing that others are going through the same stressful situation can lower your stress and anxiety. Many freshmen like Amay Cruz, wanted to attend in order to feel less alone when facing finals. 

“I think it’ll keep me calm, and like thinking that, the rest of my friends are taking it,” Cruz Stated. “So I’m like going through it with them”

Link Crew leaders made themselves available to help tutor any freshmen and give them studying advice as well. 

This event was open to students of all grade levels, including teachers and link crew leaders themselves. Junior, Aidan Cuen explained why this event was helpful to him. 

“You get help from others, you get different strategies” Cuen, 11 Stated. “And methods from other people that can help you memorize or help you actually solve the problem yourself.”

With a result of 212 students attending, the event was said to be ‘a huge success’. This event helped encouraged students, mainly freshmen, better understand and manage stress.