The Frequently Asked Questions to the Academically Stressed (or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb)

We may only be entering March Break, but don’t think for a second that graduation is a distant consideration. No, in a school that serves three divisions, students are always experiencing the thrill and pride of graduation, whether it be in grades 6, 8, or 12. I myself get the opportunity to feel that thrill – and I don’t mean vicariously. As a part-time student finishing up my own postsecondary studies while working full-time at Crescent School, I find myself empathizing with their almost-there chugga-chugga vibe, so many emotions reflected back at me in the eyes of our students. 

We so easily forget the emotional rollercoaster of this time in our lives. I’ve had a chance to remember as of late. Slowly, everything I’ve learned is taking shape. As dry and abstract as it is to write a paper on the minutiae of collection management for digital natives, boy, do you feel it come to life when you’re squatting doing to check the barcodes on the bottom shelf for an honest-to-goodness shelf read. It’s in the knees. That’s where you feel it the most.

It’s an interesting metamorphosis, this overlap between one who studies and one who practices, the thinker and the doer. It’s inevitably odd to be on both sides of the equation, but if my seventh grade math teacher taught me anything, that’s how we get balanced.

So, in celebration of the students as much as a celebration for me, I offer this bitesize – and only 38% sarcastic – FAQ to empathize on what life is like for a soon-to-be-graduate in all its glory (and torment): 

Q: Are you asking if this will be on the test?

A: No, I’m asking if I need to click on these thirty-five links in the slide today or when the semester is over and I have more time to actually do the deep dive. 

Q: Does everyone have the textbook?

A: Not the one you suggested, but last year’s edition that’s priced like a trade paperback. 

Q: Didn’t you read the assignment?

A: Yes, I did. Then I read the assignment for youth services, the 42-page reading for children’s issues, and then attended a Zoom call with the TA for records management. So, here we are.

Q: And now that our three-hour Zoom lecture is over, do you have any questions?

A: Yes, why did this have to be three hours?

Q: Do you really need an extension or did you just spend your weekend binge-watching Euphoria?

A: Yes.

If anyone has any further questions, I am happy to offer my perspective in the comments, but above all, please, join me in celebrating the pure joy of chipping away at my TBR shelf as I return to recreational reading this spring!

Photo by form PxHere