OUR VIEW: Take time to enjoy finals and winter break

Next week, students will be mercifully freed from their classes only to be cruelly imprisoned in the library, doomed to stare blankly at textbooks until time runs out and the final exam must be taken.

Everyone is full of friendly advice on how to survive finals, ranging from all-night cram sessions to “it’s too late now, so don’t even bother studying.”

Our advice is to break up study sessions. Spend an hour studying for one final, then take a brisk walk outside. Work on an essay, then clean your bathroom. Put the finishing touches on a final project, then go out to lunch with your roommates or significant other.

Take advantage of the Academic Resource Center on the third floor of the Taggart Student Center. They have innumerable handouts with suggestions ranging from testing strategies, effective reading, and stress busters. Monday through Wednesday of finals week, the counseling center (also on the third floor of the TSC) will have dogs, cats and a bunny for students to enjoy and relax with.

When finals are over, relax. It’s over and done with, and it’s too late to change things now, so be prepared to accept the consequences of your actions (or non-actions) over the semester. You may be pleasantly surprised when you get your grades.

As everyone starts to travel when school is finished, safety on the roads should be kept in every student’s mind. The roads are full of maniacs and reindeer this time of year, so students should be safe on their way home.

So to all at Utah State University, we hope you have a merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah or good Kwanzaa during the break.

Class dismissed.