Tis the season… to celebrate finals week! I don’t know that students would call it celebrating, but if you think about it, it IS much like other holiday celebrations – a culmination of something in one great event. This finals season is a culmination of a full semester of work into one thing; the final. A test of study habits, time management, the immune system, and most importantly, knowledge.
Finals week next week, is a “holiday” in itself. During many holidays we look forward to eating a lot and following it with a good, long nap (which I call a food coma). During this celebration students look forward to (insert laugh) lots of caffeine followed by anything but a nap. While we may clean and decorate for any other holiday, during this upcoming week, students do the opposite. They neglect cleaning and “decorate” their room with piles of laundry. While we may listen to spirited holiday music, students will often listen to the music that puts them “in the zone” to study. At the end of it all though, we do one thing that’s consistent with the holidays; we celebrate with family and friends.
As I look forward to celebrating Christmas with my family, I thought, ” why not get into the holiday mood!?” So, I’ve been wearing lots of sweaters, drinking lots of holiday themed coffee, and listening to lots of Christmas music. Most exciting however, might be these three guys:
I found these “grow kits” at Target for only a dollar a piece. *in a boxer’s announcing voice* On the left we have a “Carpet of Snow.” In the Santa-themed pot, we have “rye grass” which hopes to grow up to be Santa’s hair/hat, and on the right is my “Christmas Tree Grow Kit.” I planted these gems on Sunday as a test of my green thumb. So far, you might be able to see, the carpet of snow and Santa’s hair have started to grow, but we’re still waiting on the Christmas tree.
Other than these three exciting “experiments” as we’ll call them, our work is shifting here in the office. All of us counselors are off the road for the most part, done with the great fall travel season. While we’re still hosting visitors on campus and encouraging seniors to apply, many students are now focused on housing and financial aid. This means we’re taking a number of phone calls from students asking how to apply to scholarships and how to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). For those high achieving seniors – the Presidential Scholarship application is DUE TOMORROW! As a counseling staff we’re balancing these tasks amongst our other projects and responsibilities, all while looking at where we’ll be traveling this spring.
Tis the season – Travel safely, and have a very warm and happy holiday!