Written by Zach “This Was My Last Fall Semester” Dalton
Dear Maroons,
What a semester. It started with so much uncertainty and hesitation that many of us didn’t think we’d make it this far. After careful decisions made by the administration, the semester began to come together. Thankfully we all banded together and followed guidelines that brought back those who wanted to come back. Every group on campus did the best they could to make this semester feel as normal as possible despite everything being anything but.
The biggest things that took a hit were classes. One of the biggest draws for Roanoke is its small class sizes- something that benefits greatly to being in-person. With the decision to keep this semester online, a lot of students have experienced “Zoom fatigue,” or the tiredness of dealing with everything of your education being on a small, lit screen. I am proud to tell you, Maroons, that we are almost done with online courses for now. That means we have to face a whole other bear: finals.
Everyone dreads finals; that is nothing new. What people are going to face with these finals is time. Many professors have been assigning finals as open-note exams (awesome) but they are also giving at least a week for the exams to be completed. It is easy to let your work get away from you when other work takes priority, so plan your time accordingly. Set blocks of time aside for each final as if you were attending a final. Another good strategy is to set your phone aside. I know currently that seems near impossible, but it will make a world of difference to have that one less distraction. One more thing I can suggest to help keep focus is listen to instrumental soundtracks. Find a playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, or even SoundCloud that lasts at least 90 minutes and just plug your buds in and go.
The end of the road is almost here, and I believe you can get this done! Keep your heads up, keep on moving along, and remember: we’re not here for a long time, we’re here for a good time.
Best,
Zach “What’s Post-Grad?” Dalton
