Every year at the two-week mark, as finals are coming upon us, I’m betting almost 100 percent of us feel completely run down, not wanting to care about tests, projects and assignments. But we have to keep our grades up and finish the semester strong. When in reality, the feeling of just wanting to give up is so familiar for us college students. It pretty much gets to the point that the very thought of school stresses me out when it gets down to the wire before finals. I literally have to force myself to study every day.

I have to constantly remind myself that my grades matter and to not get lazy with schoolwork in the last three weeks of school — or as my family calls it, the home stretch. It seems like this semester has been especially challenging and stressful for me, and it’s gotten to the point where I actually have to push myself to care and continue to work near the end of this semester. I know many of us will be glad when the semester is over. 

I was told I wouldn’t even need a math class when I got to Kent State to finish my bachelor’s degree. I never really was told why I needed to take the Quantitative Methods in Psychology class, but here I am this semester, taking a math class. Math is the toughest subject for me and always has been. Some of you reading this probably struggle with math and other subjects as well. I’m sure many of you can relate to the struggle with math. It gets overwhelming and gives me a headache to even look at the type of math we are doing. And chapter 13 in my math book, don’t even get me started on those equations! Nothing like having one problem take up an entire page and the net page of my notebook with equations.

When it gets to this point of the semester I feel as though I just don’t want to go on nor do I want to be bothered with classes. I’ve thought that some of the classes through this semester were pointless to even go to them because I wasn’t learning everything I thought I was going to, and there were times where I’d honestly be wasting my time by going to class because I had so many other assignments to do. How many of us have felt like you were wasting time by actually going to class?

Come on, if you ever say you haven’t felt that at least one class in a week was a drag to go to throughout an entire semester, you’re not telling the truth.

The important thing to remember is we have all worked hard to get where we need to be in our journey at Kent State. When we work hard and have diligence in every class, show our professors we are willing to do whatever it take to pass, most of them see that never giving up attitude that we have and will pass us. We can make it past another round of finals! Believe in your ability to finish strong because then when you look back at this semester, you’ll be able to say, ‘I persevered through yet another challenge’ and it’s a great feeling to be in victory!