Antoinette "Pinky" Newsome for stress management series

Imagine this: puppies in the Pit, moon bounces lining the Quad and free ice cream and back massages. Antoinette “Pinky” Newsome wants to make this a reality for UNC.

Newsome, a management and society major, wants to create a weeklong stress management series, topped off with a day of fun on Friday.

From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday, Newsome would provide students, faculty and staff with information on how to manage stress, good nutrition and proper amounts of physical activity.

As the president of the Kappa Omicron chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and a community manager in Carmichael Residence Hall, Newsome said students often look to her for help.

“Many students have come to me numerous times within a short span, saying how they’re very stressed, they’re overwhelmed, they need help, they want advice,” she said.

Newsome said students ask her: “How can I do this better?” or “I’m really stressed. I don’t know what do.”

Newsome said she hopes her project can answer some of those questions. She has been collaborating with the Learning Center and Counseling and Wellness Services to develop the program.

She would use the $500 to host the event, including paying the masseuses, buying food and renting the moon bounce.

Curtis Jackson Jr., Newsome’s community director and mentor, said that among her countless volunteer efforts, working with high school girls in the Chapel Hill and Carrboro area has had the greatest impact on Newsome.

Newsome was also Miss BSM of the Black Student Movement.

“When given the opportunity to create a service project for Miss BSM, she wanted to do something on stress so that high school students had what they need in order to be successful,” he said.

Marcus Collins, assistant dean for student counseling and Newsome’s academic adviser, said Newsome is able to reach students regardless of boundary lines.

“She is able to meet people where they are and help them get where they need to be,” he said.

“You know, the University is known as the ‘School of the People.’ Well Pinky embodies the true essence of the Chapel Hill spirit. She is the ‘Student of the People.’”

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