High dive boards at the Turner Center / (Austin McAfee)
BY LOGAN KIRKLAND
ltkirkla@go.olemiss.edu
Students look for ways to get rid of their stress for finals week through the activities that are provided on campus.
Instead of diving into their books, students will have the opportunity to dive into the pool at the Turner Center this Sunday from 5-7 p.m.
Mark Garneau, assistant aquatics director for the Turner Center, said the high boards will be open and he wants the students to have fun, take pictures and forget about finals.
“Everyone’s going to be stressed out for finals,” Garneau said. “This is a little way of getting rid of that stress.”
He’s expecting lots of students to attend because lifeguards have been posting flyers, using social media and spreading the news by word of mouth.
Garneau said many of the lifeguards have been begging him to open the high dives all semester, and that “like a grumpy old dad,” he has consistently said, “No.”
“Finally, I gave in like every other father does eventually,” Garneau said.
Garneau said the point of having this event is to give students the chance to jump off the high dive before they graduate and to have fun at the pool.
“We’ll have a couple of cannonball contests, and we’ll have some more silly stuff, too,” Garneau said.
Ellery Jividen, a freshman lifeguard at the Turner Center, said she is excited to jump off of the high dive because the lifeguards are not allowed to jump off it themselves.
She said it is going to be an all-around good time and that music and games will be played.
Jividen said opening the high dive was graduate assistant Lauren Williams’ idea. Williams wanted to promote the aquatics facilities at the Turner Center.
“A lot of students, even though they know that we have a pool, haven’t actually made an effort to go visit it and see the kind of facilities we have,” Jividen said.
A.J. Barrios, a senior accountancy major, said having this event makes students want to come out and see the Turner Center, as well as its pool.
He said the high dive opportunity is of a different dynamic than the typical stress relievers students turn to during exam season. He also said being able to get a group of friends to participate in this event would be great.
“I think it’s a good stress reliever,” Barrios said. “It does the body good to get away from stressing.”
