Advertisement

Stressed out UBC grad students ease frustrations with ‘smash therapy’

Click to play video: 'UBC workshop to reduce stress is a ‘smashing’ success'
UBC workshop to reduce stress is a ‘smashing’ success
WATCH: A de-stressing workshop for UBC chemistry graduate students proved to be a smashing success. Whether it be exams, classes or their personal lives, students were given a chance to release unwanted tension by shattering unsalvageable glass lab equipment – Nov 22, 2024

Ever feel like the stress of life is so much you just want to smash something?

Graduate students in UBC’s chemistry department were given the opportunity to do just that in a de-stressing workshop that proved to be a smashing success on Friday.

Students had the chance to process the stress of exams, classes and their personal lives by shattering unsalvageable glass laboratory equipment.

“What am I gonna be thinking about? I think I’ll be thinking about some of my experiments that aren’t working as I’d hope they’d work,” student Keighan Gemmell told Global News.

Click to play video: 'Lethbridge College students hammer out their stress'
Lethbridge College students hammer out their stress

Students donned safety glasses before taking their aggression out piece by piece.

Story continues below advertisement

Their targets were old and damaged lab gear like chipped test tubes or other specialty glassware that, when undamaged, is worth thousands of dollars.

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

Get breaking National news

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

The school said the more stressed a student was, the more expensive the glass they got to break.

“You can run into students here that are stressed out from exams, writing a thesis, stressed out from getting ready for the exam, and they’re walking around like zombies, and they’re very worried,” said UBC chemistry scientific glassblower Brian Ditchburn.

The chemistry department says it repairs or recycles more than 90 per cent of the glass used in its labs.

Click to play video: 'Stressed? Anger rooms let you smash it out to blow off steam'
Stressed? Anger rooms let you smash it out to blow off steam

Sponsored content

AdChoices