UVM faculty, staff and students were focused on care during the high-pressure final days of classes and exams. All across campus, opportunities to mindfully relax and rejuvenate (while cramming in those last assignments and study sessions) were on offer.

A special one caught our eye, and we popped into the Marsh Room in the Billings Library to learn what was on offer under the banner of "De-Stress with Comics" with Professor Luis Vivanco, director of the UVM Comics-Based Research (CBR) Lab. 

A small group of students and faculty was present, drawing, talking and sharing materials. 

It was just what Dr. Vivanco had hoped for with the new event. 

As he said via a subsequent email:

The formal goal of the CBR Lab is to support new ways of approaching research processes and how we communicate about them. But we’ve also imagined it as a space for stepping away from the intensity of university life for a spell to enjoy the simple pleasures of drawing, coloring, folding paper, and other contemplative and creative acts. ‘De-Stress with Comics’ is all about playing up that side of things at one of the most intense times of the academic year, which is final exams.

It was a quiet and creative reprieve that also perfectly expressed something about life at UVM: encouragement to take a fresh look at and approach to the familiar, and to use that as an opportunity to restore a bit of balance.

Stay tuned for more stories of good work - and good restoration - from the CBR.

Missing UVM?

You can experience a bit of Catamount Country any time by visiting

• WRUV (where you can stream the station any time)

• UVM Bored calendar of events

• UVM Foundation & Alumni Association's upcoming and recorded event calendar

• Or peruse Class Notes to see what your classmates are up to.

And do let us know if there's a corner of campus you'd like for us to visit and share news from. We love a reason to uncover the interesting things that happen here all the time!