Spring Finals

Final exams are looming. For students each set of finals holds different challenges. For the fall term there is the feeling of compression from Thanksgiving to the winter holidays. And for spring there is the changing weather and the expanse of summer. And yet, I would propose from both sentiment and years of working with students, that spring final exams have a different feel that draws from the experience and from the fatigue built up over an intense first year.

The upcoming summer break is many things for many students. For some it’s a well-earned break to recharge, reconnect with old friends and with family. For others it’s a needed break for work, to help alleviate the financial pressures of school. Too often we neglect to center the high costs of college and the high cost borne by students and families beyond the money. And lastly there is the group that needs to work and to take summer courses. This is a helpful time to remind ourselves that the notion that college is a break from the “real” world is one of the balloon illusions most in need of popping.

For first year, and transfer, students spring finals come at the end of a year of firsts. For many, these are their first experiences in higher ed, first times away from home, first experiences of the fluidity of different relationships and friendships, and perhaps the first burgeoning sense of who they are becoming.

Spring final exams are cumulative in ways different from testing a term’s worth of course material. They are a test of the whole year. The academic challenge, the social ones, the challenges posed by the upcoming summer. pushing through the exams and reflecting on the year converts a long stretch of firsts into a clearer sense of how to meet the demands waiting on the summer… and the upcoming fall.