With finals next week, the Office of Student Life along with the Division of Student Affairs will be hosting Midnight Breakfast: Up All Night, a semi-annual UTEP tradition. The event will take place on Tuesday, May 10 at the Union East building. Jaime Mendez, director of the Student Support Program, is currently in charge of the volunteers for this semester.

“Right now we are looking at getting between 60 and 70 volunteers to staff different areas of our Up All Night event,” Mendez said.

Mendez said the purpose of this event is to support the student body during finals week and help them manage stress through the different activities. Some of the activities include the screening of the movie “The Breakfast Club,” which will show at the Union Cinema at 10 p.m., to blend with the nature of the midnight breakfast.

“We have everything, from rooms which we call the Stress-Free Zone, where we have coloring books, relaxing music and play dough for people to take a break from finals,” Mendez said. “We also have our game room, which is just board games such as Jenga, cards, anything for them to play in groups.”

Yoga sessions will be provided for the students to relax along with the music. Sophomore multimedia journalism major, Alexandra Dominguez, said that one of her stress relievers is music. “What makes me relax in a crisis, such as finals week, is to have some comfort zone to go and play my mind off a little bit,” Dominguez said. “To walk, to eat a little, and have some beverage that I like to hydrate myself, and music. Music is a great way to free one’s stress.”

Gerardo Garza, sophomore mechanical engineering major, has attended the Midnight Breakfast twice in the past.

“It’s my favorite event ever,” Garza said. “Hanging out with friends was really fun, and the food was nice. I’ve gone twice, but I’m planning on going to the next one.”

It has been estimated that 1,200 students have shown up to the event in previous years. Volunteers are needed to help out in the different activities. Volunteers will be needed to serve breakfast. Mendez said he encourages faculty and staff to volunteer instead of students.

“We really want it to be our staff, like the university staff, because this is a way of supporting our students during the finals period,” Mendez said. “We don’t want students that are taking finals serving. We want our staff to be out there and show their support for the student body.” The Union will be open from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m. for any students.

“I think is great for the university to provide those activities and spaces for the students,” Dominguez said. “That shows that they care for the students and that they want a more united community.”

Gloria Heredia may be reached at [email protected].