J-Term/May Term/Summer Classes

As an update to yesterday, the static electricity has subsided today outside of the obviously silly choice of me having a wool winter coat. On the other hand, since I wasn't being zapped left and right, I really can't claim today as National Static Electricity Day since I said so yesterday.

Overall, I'm definitely glad it's the weekend because it was difficult to have proper motivation this week at work. Fortunately, we are in the first week of a J-term, so only a small number of students are around, and most of the students in my building who are here now are involved in a sport (like tennis or track) or the theater department... oh, or taking a J-term class.

You know, J-term classes are kind of ridiculous if you ask me. First of all, college classes run at a much faster pace than high school classes. There's a lot of material to cover 15 weeks. BUT! You can go full gung ho with one class and learn the whole class in 3-4 weeks. Depending on the school, you may have options to do this between Christmas & the spring semester, right after you finish your spring semester, or in different blocks of the summer. Here, we have a 3-week J-term, so one single day of class in J-term is equivalent to a full week of material during a regular semester. Also, not having classes the last week so you can really study and prepare for the final? Yeah, that gets shrunk into one day as well. (Don't forget about MLK Day either.)

Most times the J-term/May term/summer courses won't cover the subject matter as in-depth as it would during the fall and spring. But still, it's a lot to cover and with fewer assignments & tests, every grade really counts. I only took one summer class in my undergrad, and fortunately for me, it was not only in my major field (math), but a part of my major that I was interested in and liked (abstract algebra). I wouldn't say that I was overloaded with homework every night, but all of us in the class needed to stay on our toes during class because one little daydream could set you up for a mountain of anguish and confusion.

At my old program, the students were required to take some a May term class over four weeks and 99% of the time, it was a graduation requirement course. When everything was said and done, I also commended the students who took on the challenge of first-semester microbiology. Not only did the class meet all day and the students had to memorize stacks of compounds and ions, but every student had "unknowns". Partway through the semester, each student would pick two unknown samples (something like a virus, bacteria, etc. - e coli was one of the staples) and perform tests on the samples to figure out what they have. Unfortunately, many of these tests need a full day to process, which is another day closer to the another impending deadline. Oh, and I should mention that the students are 16-19 years old. While the class had the accurate reputation of being quite taxing, almost everyone who took on the challenge succeeded. Not necessarily a whole bunch of A's, but even a B in micro was something to be proud of. So yeah, the students can transform from mere young adults into BAMFs all in four week's time.

So, if you're in a J-term class right now, I commend you. As I'm sure you already know by now, it's a lot to take in, so help keep yourself and your classmates focused in class and don't forget about the resources that are still available to you. Even if your campus isn't fully open like in the fall or spring, you can still talk to your professor outside of class, meet with a representative from Academic Support, and connect with other students for group work. Remember, I'm pulling for you. We're all in this together.

As for today's holiday, I'll go on the larger scope and say Happy Be Kind of Food Servers Month. Since J-term classes are up and going, some of the food options for lunch are open again and I do make a note to be friendly with all of the employees there.

Have a great start of the weekend and DFTBA!