Students and faculty members at Algonquin College are now able to catch some Zs on campus thanks to the recent instalment of two napping pods earlier this month.
After popular demand from students who said they wanted a place to nap, the Algonquin College Students’ Association (ACSA) put in place two “EnergyPods” that were developed by a company called MetroNaps.
“It became quite evident that many students wanted to have somewhere they could nap. It came up a lot with students last year, so our board was advocating for it,” said Don MacRae, the ACSA manager of administrative services.
“At that point in time—at the end of the year—we started doing our planning for the next year, and in my budget I put in for two nap pods,” he said.
The pods were priced at $10,000 each and were funded by the ACSA.
Anyone who is using the pods can lay in them and set a specific time for when they wish to wake up, according to MacRae.
“Say if you wanted a 20 minute nap. You would set the pod for 20 minutes and it would vibrate when 20 minutes passes by,” MacRae said.
Nappers are able to adjust their seat level, and can even listen to music straight from the pod thanks to a built-in headphone jack.
“We haven’t had any complaints yet. We haven’t gotten that far,” he said. “But they’ve been very busy. They’re very popular when they’re in use, and even when they’re not in use.”
Despite their success, MacRae said that it’s too early to tell if anymore pods will be developed in the future.
“I guess we’ll have to wait and see how students are enjoying them,” he said.
The nap pods are located in a silent study area on the second floor of the student commons. In addition to setting up these pods, six lounge chairs were brought in and are located in another silent study on campus.
