Final Friday of the Semester!
Many of our Deacs have already finished finals, but we have today and tomorrow as the last days for exams. My dear friend and ZSR librarian extraordinaire, Roz Tedford, had posted this assessment of the ZSR this morning on her Facebook page (and she’s given me permission to use it):
“I always feel like the poor students still in the library on the morning of the last day of exams need a speech of encouragement – like a Branagh’s ‘St. Crispin’s Day’ speech – or Aragorn at the gates of Mordor – level speech. Of course they might kill the person who tried to get on the loud speaker and give the speech – but they just seem like they might need it……”
Editors note: I like the Branagh speech better, but your Deacs might be more familiar with the Tom Hiddleston version of Henry V as it is more modern, so here is a bonus pic.
That’s about as good of a temperature gauge on your Deacs’ moods as I can give you. Our students will power through today and tomorrow, with diminishing numbers as other students finish and leave for home, and then all students must check out by 9 am on Sunday for a long Winter Break. Be Dauntless, Deacs. You can do it!
In addition to your students leaving for break, faculty and administrators will also begin taking time off. The university is officially closed from December 25-January 1, but as you might imagine there will be staff taking PTO earlier than the official closure dates. So if your Deacs have administrative tasks they need to take care of, be advised they need to do it before the 25th.
And if your student has administrative tasks to do or questions to ask, please remember (and use!) my oft-used Stop, Drop, and Roll. If your Deac has a question/task to do/whatever, please let him or her do the legwork. I know that our students are fried after finals and all that, but it is far more helpful a gesture to make your student ask the question/fill out the paperwork/make the phone call than it is for you to do it. While you doing the work solves a short term problem (maybe you can take care of the task faster), it causes a longer term problem by not giving your student the chance to learn how to take care of his/her own business, manage multiple priorities, work even when they are tired, etc.
In addition to helping nurture your students’ intellects, college is a time where we are also trying to foster their independence. And we need your help – by letting go of tasks that are not yours – to do that.
So what tasks do we encourage you to do for your Deacs post-finals? Ready their beds and rooms, make their favorite meals and snacks, and shower them with TLC because they have earned it. Also, mentally prepare yourself for them wanting to sleep (a LOT) in the first few days they are home, and to renegotiate any house rules or boundaries.
Because finals are coming to a close, today is our last Finals Funnies memes. Enjoy. As ever, click to enlarge. My favorite is this first one, from the crazy megahit song Gangnam Style.
