There was no confusion, students weren’t lost, they did mean to wear their pajamas out in public. Well, in Lake Ontario Hall at least.

Grand Valley State University’s Meijer Center for Writing took over the building in an attempt to fight off procrastination and get some serious work done on March 14. Night Against Procrastination was created to encourage students to get a head start on assignments and stop procrastinating at the end of the semester, the center’s Interim Director Patrick Johnson said.

The event that originally began at a university in Germany back in 2010 has spread to schools all over Europe and North America. This is the second year that Johnson has put on the all-nighter at GVSU.

Junior Shelby Orford, desk worker at the writing center, led students through the sign-in process and guided them to whichever room fit them best. Students could choose between five different rooms – quiet, semi-quiet, loud, game/activity and sleeping.

“It’s a really great opportunity for students to come finish everything,” Orford said.

Other writing center workers, Biz Strach and Sara Johnson, hung out in the game and activity room where they could converse with friends and float around the event when they were needed.
“I like to be able to promote the good, healthy environment, plus it offers comic relief,” Strach said.

Strach, who is double majoring in math and statistics, was rocking a pair of sock monkey footy pajamas, different to the pair she wore to the event the previous year. Although she is not a writing student, she said she likes working for the center because it shows that there is more to her and it encourages her other strengths.

The 12-hour-long event attracted students from all majors and grade levels. The semi-quiet room was full of students who wanted to get work done and have a good time doing it.
Senior Alli Kneisel said the event was a good way to get stuff done and get a start on some of her projects.

“I thought it would be good to get out of my apartment to get work done,” Kneisel said. “I thought it would be fun and it’s nice having access to other people.”
Freshmen Diamond Gardin had a lot of work to cram into the night and looked forward to bouncing ideas off people.

“I love to write,” Gardin said. “One of the writing consultants kept telling me to come and I have four papers due within the next two weeks, so I thought it might be a fun way to get them done.”
Gardin said she would encourage students to come to the event in the future, especially more freshmen.

It was a long night of work but desk yoga, games and a coffee run to Kirkhof at midnight made for a productive, yet fun, evening.
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