Four days ahead of finals week, students gathered for an afternoon of stress relief at WKU’s annual Rage N Relax event on South Lawn.

As the name suggests, the event featured activities both intense and relaxing, from an alpaca petting zoo to a Chevy Cruze students could smash with sledgehammers. WKU Housing and Residence Life, WKU Campus Recreation and Wellness, WKU’s Campus Activities Board, the WKU Restaurant Group and Hilltopper Nutrition organized Rage N Relax.

Several outside organizations contributed to the event, including R.E. Harp & Sons, which provided the Chevy Cruze, the Bowling Green Police Department, which oversaw the car smashing activity and Viewso, which provided a 360-degree photo booth. Food vendors included Pelican’s SnoBalls and Donatos Pizza.

Attendees mainly gravitated towards the rougher activities, such as the inflatables and the car demolition.

“I mostly came for the car wreckage,” said Kiyah Gibson Jackson, a junior computer science major. “I have a calculus final coming up, so I took my anger out on the car.”

Having lined up for a second turn at smashing the car, Jackson lamented the lack of another car to destroy. 

“I hope they bring another one next year,” Jackson said.

Shelton Potter, a sophomore electrical engineering major, shared similar feelings toward the event.

“I built my emotions up, and I just let it all out,” Potter said, describing his time with the car.

One of the inflatables present at the event, a velcro axe-throwing game, replaced last year’s regular axe-throwing, a change that left Potter disappointed.

Other changes from the Rage N Relax events of years past included the removal of free massages from the Bluegrass Massage Institute and the rabbit petting, which was replaced by alpacas. Additionally, the poster for this year’s event promised deadlifting and a dunk tank, neither of which were present.