Hey everyone!

Well, this is it! The last blog before school is out.  This year went so quick.  In fact, after this week, I’m going to be half way done with my college career.  That’s pretty weird to think about.  I don’t feel like that’s the case at all.  These first two years flew by!

Anyway, I thought I’d talk about the exams, since they seem to be on everyone’s minds this time of year.  Myself, I’m not too worried or stressed. I’m usually a good test taker and a few tests don’t hold a candle to the papers and projects I’ve had to complete these past few weeks. 

The way the exams work is pretty simple. You can search “exam schedule” on inside.msj.edu to find our schedule.  The schedule is listed by the time of day the course usually meets.  Then, it lists what day the respective exam will take place and what time. For example, my Age of Ideology class meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:00.  The exam takes place on Thursday at about 1:15 till 3:05.  After that, I’m done with the course (which is a pretty tough course, just for future reference).

You will also find that some classes don’t meet for the exam.  One of my classes has an optional exam, only if you need the extra points to boost your grade. I have an A in the class, so I don’t really need the points, so I opted out of taking the exam.  Out of 5 classes, I only have to meet for 3 exams, and they are all on different days.  This laid back scheduling helps ease any stress students feel when faced with the exams and definitely helps me feel more comfortable with them. 

So when faced with the final exams, just relax, use the free time created through the exam schedule to study as much as you can, and just take the tests. There isn’t much more you can do, so relax, do your best, then go enjoy your summer! A lot of people get over-stressed, but there really is no reason to. By this point, you will have been working for 10 weeks for a good grade, one week isn’t going to kill ya.

If you’re in college, push through these last weeks, and if your in high school, enjoy the time you have left.  Then enjoy the summer time!

I’ll try to post up a few blogs over the course of the summer break, just to let you guys know what’s goin on.

See ya!

>Eric M.

You know when your mind is racing even when you’re going to bed.  That’s been me for the past two weeks.  As exams are approaching next week for most of MSJ’s students, the interior design students have some of their exams this week.  In our interior design classes, for our final projects we always have projects instead of tests.  To many that would sound very easy, but in reality I think it may be harder.  In interior design you are always modifying and finding better ways to space plan.  So you are always down to the wire because of constant modifications that you make.  The newest project that I am undertaking at the moment is my lamp.  For environmental technologies we have to build our own lamp.  On to less stressful news, the Department of Art and Design had their annual thesis opening this past Friday.  This is when students present their final projects to the public.  This is a big deal for all seniors because they get to show off all of their hard work and what they have learned over the past four years.  There are two thesis openings that are a week to two weeks apart from each other.  The first thesis opening has graphic design work mixed in with fine arts and art education.  And the second thesis has interior design work mixed in with fine arts and art education work.  Speaking of all the hard work these girls do I need to get back to my work.