Heterick Memorial Library’s newly renovated second floor is home to the Center for Student Success, which provides many of the University’s academic support services, including Polar Careers, the Writing Center, Study Abroad, and Accessibility Services.
While some offices, such as the Writing Center, have long known their home in Heterick, others, like Polar Careers and Global Services, have relocated from the second floor of the McIntosh Center.
One facility, however, is completely new to Ohio Northern: the Sensory Room.
The Sensory Room is designed to provide students with a space to relax and destress. The lights and music create a calming atmosphere for students. The room is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with up to three students allowed to reserve the room for up to 30 minutes.
According to updated guidelines provided to Northern Review, students are expected to refrain from consuming food or beverages, sleeping, or studying while in the sensory room. Students should also take items used during their session – such as fidgets – to the Accessibility Services Office to be sanitized when they are done.
The sensory room features four seating options: a wobble stool, a rocking chair, and two low, bean-bag-like options. Overhead lights can be turned off, casting soft, multicolored light from several sources across the room. A sound machine is available with static and nature sounds alongside simple music.
Heather Nash, the Student Accessibility Coordinator at ONU, led the introduction of Heterick’s sensory room. She said, “We’re always busy and stressful” and that sometimes we “need a quiet place to calm down.” After opening Spring 2025 semester, Nash noted that the room has already been a popular addition among students: “That was the talk of the day on the first day of classes,” she said.
A wide variety of fidget objects are offered for students to engage with during their session. According to Nash, these include “texture items,” “soft items,” and “stress balls,” as well as magnetic linking tiles and plastic fidgets in creative configurations. Keeping in line with the mission of accessibility, Nash sought “different fidget items that I kept in mind when buying the room for different diagnoses.”
Ohio Northern’s sensory room was modeled after sensory rooms at Rhodes State College and the University of Toledo. Many sensory items in the Rhodes State room were also purchased for ONU’s sensory room.
