The Night Against Procrastination can’t wait any longer.

After last year’s fall and spring sessions were held online only, the event, organized by A-Z Learning Services in partnership with units from across Brock’s campus, will return Thursday, Nov. 25 in hybrid form, with both in-person and virtual offerings.

Running from 6 p.m. to midnight, the gathering will connect students with accessible resources from around the University, including in-person academic supports designed to help them complete their end-of-term assignments, while also providing online activities through the Welcome event platform.

Maggie Whitfield, Brock’s Manager of Learning Services, said students are drawn to the chance to gather together with the common cause of completing assignments.

“I think we just need the energy we can draw from each other as a community,” she said. “Last year was rough and we all knew it. But I don’t know that we expected this year to still be exhausting. We all feel a bit rundown and feeling that community around them can really drive students forward to work on their assignments.”

Second-year Public Health student Angelo Ilersich will be taking part in the online and in-person portions of the evening, after experiencing the event for the first time last November.

“Working at home last year was isolating, and I sometimes felt lost in my work and unsure of my performance,” he said. “The Night Against Procrastination helped me bridge the gap and realize I wasn’t studying alone at Brock, and that I had peers who I could talk with and faculty members who cared about my success.”

Along with the help of tutors in the virtual and in-person spaces, participants can also expect a variety of activities that will allow them to take a temporary break from their studies. Online, students will be able to participate in program-specific conversations and facilitated lounge chats, while in-person participants can snack on pizza, decorate cupcakes and take part in self affirmation and yoga exercises.

In the online forums, participants will be joined for the first time by students from University of Toronto, which Whitfield said will provide some extra motivation.

“With the U of T students participating online, there’s a chance to meet new people and exchange ideas about what you are studying,” she said. “Being online is a real equalizer, and that can sometimes make it easier to ask the questions you need to while learning from others and feeling that extra push to get your work done.”

Meanwhile, Whitfield said she expects students who participate on campus to feel an extra jolt of motivation as well.

“Working on assignments in November can leave you really feeling alone,” she said. “But it’s so much easier when we are safely together on campus. Being together again is human and it’s something that we are really excited for.”

To ensure on-campus safety continues, all participants for the in-person events must be Brock University students and they must RSVP. Interested participants for either the online or in-person events can register on ExperienceBU.