The Peer Support Lounge in Kerckhoff Hall offers free wellness resources – including free snacks, emergency contraceptives and toiletries – to students.
The Undergraduate Students Association Council’s student wellness commissioner created the PSL – housed in Kerckhoff Room 308 – in early 2023.
The PSL is open Monday through Friday and provides free resources to students such as emergency contraceptives, toothbrushes, snacks and Narcan. It also offers picnic blankets and umbrellas, as well as a microwave and printer.
Averie Roice, a student staff member at the PSL and member of the SWC, said the commission created the space to increase students’ accessibility to health resources and provide another study space on campus.
“There are pads and tampons and fentanyl test trips,” said Roice, a fourth-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student. “It has a multifunctional purpose in that way. It’s a space that students can decompress and relax.”
Student Wellness Commissioner Hannah Yip said unlike other resource spaces on campus, the lounge is student-run and does not require students to sign-in or interact with staff to access any items to prioritize students’ privacy.
“It’s very important to have more spaces on campus that students feel comfortable accessing,” said Yip, a fourth-year computational and systems biology student. “It can be really intimidating to go to those spaces (CAPS and RISE) and not knowing what they exactly are, what resources they have.”
She added that although interaction is not required to receive resources, a staff member is always present to support students when needed. Lea Choe, a second-year statistics and data science student, said she frequents the PSL because it provides a supportive environment and is an enjoyable place to do work.
“There’s always an SWC member here, and you can ask them questions about student wellness events,” Choe said. “It just feels like a cozy spot to work, so I like the casualness of it.”
PSL Co-Coordinator Keilana Knapps said PSL at its core is a space for students. She added that the lounge staff heavily rely on student feedback to decide what resources the lounge should prioritize in its budget.
The PSL started allocating more funding to providing safe-sex resources – such as condoms and emergency contraceptives like Plan B – because of student feedback, she said. Knapps, a fourth-year biology student, added that the lounge also created a supply of free umbrellas that people can borrow on rainy days after receiving the suggestion from students.
The PSL often hosts social events such as the Fuel for Finals event – which provides food for students studying for final exams. PSL also collaborated with the Latinx Success Center to organize a Winter Welcome event that highlighted both centers’ missions.
“Since it’s (Latinx Success Center) a newer center, we’re just trying to give them a leg up and inform students around the campus that we have a relationship,” Knapps said.
The LSC opened in early 2025 and aims to create a thriving environment to help students succeed academically and personally by bridging campus resources. One of the LSC’s main goals is to bridge campus resources by carrying Narcan and fentanyl test strips provided by the PSL, as noted by Knapps.
The center’s goal is to support the student population however it can, Knapps said.
“We, as PSL coordinators, just want to focus on more of a holistic approach for students,” Knapps said. “People use the space as a study space, a place to relax – again – providing free snacks for our students during their busy schedules and just trying to do whatever we can to support the student population.”
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