No One Studies Alone

by Travis Rocha

Every semester it’s the same thing, midterms and finals. I wish I could say I’ve gotten used to it, but honestly every time they come around my heart gets just a little heavy. Thankfully, I don’t have to go through it alone and the rest of campus is right there with me. I wouldn’t say I’m someone who gets stressed easily – I’d more so describe the feeling as annoyed, annoyed that I have to take a test.

Right now, it’s midterm season and the library is full of students studying for their respective classes. Though, what I like about our library is no one is ever sitting alone. Everyone is always in a group, chatting and working. Whether they’re in the main area or in private study rooms, people are together and helping one another out. We definitely bond over our collective stress and that makes this time of year so much easier to handle. My rhetoric exam was definitely the worst this time around, but thankfully I have plenty of friends in that class to help me.

My peers and I all worked on a study guide together and spent a night in the library pouring over it. The format for the exam requires detailed explanations of seven random terms from a list of about 40 or so. There were so many terms we had to learn that we thought it would be impossible, but after a few hours of grinding we had a rough outline in our minds for every term. When we actually took the exam and discussed it afterwards, we all were pleasantly surprised with how easy it was. (Shocker: studying helps you pass.)

As I said before, I get pretty annoyed during midterms/finals because I hate to study and there’s never any breaks. Thankfully, at Christopher Newport we hold one another accountable and the bonds we make with one another go a long ways in ensuring our academic success. I only have one midterm left, so let’s hope I can finish strong before spring break!