Hello everyone!! 🙂

It is finally FINALS WEEK for me! After Friday, I will officially be able to say that I am 75% done with my masters program!! That is so difficult to believe, truly! I don’t know where time has gone but before I can congratulate myself, I have to get through finals.

Unlike undergrad, I do not have any tests to worry about, which is amazing! Instead, I have presentations and assignments I need to submit, and the biggest of submissions is my thesis application to Stan State’s University Institutional Review Board (UIRB). What UIRB does is essentially give me the green light to do research for my thesis after they determine that I plan to engage in ethical and responsible academic work 🙂 It has been SUCH a long process, but I am finally here! Once I am given their approval (hopefully), I will then  be able to conduct the research necessary for my thesis 🙂 It’s going to be a quantitative study so a lot of statistics will be involved and can I just say that not once did I expect or want to do something like this?? Somehow Stan State has had a way to push me to try new things and I am all here for it! 🙂

While I am excited to cross the finish line this final term, I will always reflect on how difficult this term has been. There were various days and nights where I struggled to simply open my email. I felt so drained, so powerless, and routinely questioned how I was going to get through the week with all the deadlines and assignments constantly growing and nearing.

In retrospect, I think so much of this semester has been influenced by pandemic fatigue–where I simply became so exhausted of constantly learning about new record infection numbers, new lockdowns (which I support), and what seemed to be a worsening public health situation. There were also many moments where it was just hard to accept that this became the world we were in. I had so many plans for 2020!! 🙁

But looking forward, I cannot complain much. I know things will slowly become ok because 2021 is going to be a new year and a new year will always bring new prospects; even during this hectic year, I have accomplished so much as so have you! We are no longer where we were in March 2020. We may not be out of the woods soon, but we are resilient and if we made it through the most ambiguous and stressful moments, full of so much uncertainty, I know we will make it through these next few months!

I hope all students, whether in high school, undergrad, or grad school, find it within themselves to make it through that final finish line this semester! If you’re finding it difficult to do so, remember, you cannot be shy when it comes to communicating your needs to your professors! They’re there to help you and their support will always prove to be the most valuable thing during moments of intense academic stress. I know at Stan State this semester I have been PRIVILEGED in support! I would not have had it in me to do so if it weren’t for my professors (literally all of them).

I am wishing everyone luck on finals this week! I know we can do it!