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The Harvard Undergraduate Association voted Tuesday to allocate $5,000 to providing care packages and Enhanced Brain Breaks in residential house dining halls during the upcoming reading period.
The initiatives, organized by the student government’s Well-Being and Residential Life teams, are aimed at providing additional support to upperclassmen students before final exams.
The package includes $3,000 for Enhanced Brain Breaks, which offer additional food and activities at Harvard’s weekly night late dining hall hours. Enhanced Brain Breaks take place weekly for freshmen at Annenberg Hall, but are not usually offered to upperclassmen.
$2,000 was allocated to upperclassmen care packages on Tuesday. The HUA had previously approved $1,500 to provide care packages to College freshmen, which will be distributed on Wednesday at Annenberg, the freshman dining hall.
The HUA handed out care packages last fall at the Cabot Science Center, but this year, HUA Well-Being Officer Joshua T. Eneji ’28 said care packages will be handed out at four upperclassmen houses — one each for River West, River East, River Central and the Quad.
“It’s us taking it to the houses so people have more access to it,” Eneji said. “Also the quad too. I don’t think they’re coming all the way down to Cabot Library.”
The care packages will include journals, stationery and snacks, according to Eneji. They will have information about Harvard’s Center for Wellness and Health Promotion, which provides educational resources, in addition to services such as massage and acupuncture for University affiliates.
The $3,000 Brain Break plan, proposed by Residential Life Officer Isabelle Agarwal ’28, will fund one additional enhanced event at each upperclassmen house.
While Enhanced Brain Breaks already take place weekly for freshmen at Annenberg, the additional funding will go to providing apple cider, donuts, and activities for a one-off event at all House dining halls during the upcoming reading period.
The money for the Enhanced Brain Break will come out of the residential life budget, which has been used in the past to fund initiatives such as care packages for international students staying on campus over the Thanksgiving break.
Eneji also announced at the Tuesday meeting that HUA had received 400 applications so far for its Winter Shuttle Program. The HUA-run program provides subsidized transportation from campus to Logan Airport and South Station for students traveling home for winter break.
HUA voted at a general meeting last month to allocate $6,000 to fund the program, which they anticipate will be able to provide transportation for up to 130 groups of two to four students.
While the program is aimed at students who would otherwise be unable to afford transportation, HUA co-president Caleb N. Thompson ’27 said that HUA does not plan on vetting applicants.
The meeting lasted 11 minutes.
—Staff writer Sebastian B. Connolly can be reached at sebastian.connolly@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @SebastianC4784.
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