The end of the year is approaching quickly. With only four weeks left in the semester, keep your work ethic strong in your studies. Midterms have mostly likely ended at this time and the third round of exams should be on the horizon. After that is the ever dreaded final exam that most of us must take. Please remember to be vigilante with your studies in these final weeks because they can really make or break your grades. Also, try to get your work done before Thanksgiving break so that you can enjoy the time off with family. I remember procrastinating sophomore year with my work and ended up having to type a 60 page report over the holiday, which I’ll tell you now was not enjoyable.
For most of my articles in this paper, I talk about the school events I have attended or the business in Senate that has been conducted, but I have decided to put aside these updates for this issue and talk about something else. This time frame is the perfect opportunity for students to reflect on their time here at RPI. As a student, you are more than halfway through the semester. At this time freshmen year, I considered switching majors. I ended up making that change spring semester because ultimately I wasn’t passionate about the career path that I was pursing. As you continue on with your studies at RPI, really take a look what you are doing in class and try to talk to people within your future profession. Is this something you really want to do?
This doesn’t have to be all about grades and your professional life though. How do you feel about your friends, your clubs and organizations if you are in any, or your general life at RPI? These are questions that everyone should be asking themselves. The point of these questions is for self-reflection which I have found incredibly useful and relaxing, but hard to do at RPI with my time commitments. All of us are doing school work, attending meetings, or doing something to get our minds off the first two. It’s easy to get lost in all the running around and everyday grind, but if you ever have say, 10 minutes in your schedule take a deep breath and think about your life by yourself with no distractions.
If you ever decide that you may need help with anything, remember that there are people at RPI who can talk to you. It could be a close friend, an RA/LA, a professor you trust, a Class Dean, or someone in the Counseling Center. In reality, you can talk to anyone, but you have to take that step and reach out. At RPI, we are a community and we will stick together and help each other out as much as possible. Also, talking to other people about your problems will really help ease the burdens on your mind. As always if anyone has any questions please feel free to contact me at gm@rpi.edu.