It's a regular school day. You sighed your way out of your warm, quiet bed all the way to your rickety seat in class. It's not great, but it'll all be over in an hour and forty-five minutes. Then, even through your sleep-deprived stupor, you hear the two words dreaded by students every fall: group project.
As silly, frustrating, time-consuming, stressful and non-sensical as they seem most of the time, group projects are as much of an unavoidable part of school as the line to the Starbucks in the library. As a rite of passage all of us must endure, here are six of the most common people you encounter during a group project.
1. The Ghost
Also known as the student whom your professor claims will help you and your group develop your problem solving skills. They like messages, only respond to emails after midnight and have no social media profiles, which basically means no alternate ways to contact them. The day of your presentation, maybe you won't even recognize them until they introduce themselves.
2. The Leader
Thinking back to your first group meeting, the leader most likely identified themselves early on. Typical leader behavior includes: arriving early to secure the perfect group table at the library, hitting up Starbucks at least twice during work sessions and steering the focus back to work when the conversation wanders into past-midnight philosophy territory.
3. The Ditchdigger
Taking notes during meetings, organizing shared files, emailing the professor a question that the rest of your group is too afraid to ask, these are hallmark signs of the "ditchdigger." They may not be the best at contributing to discussion, but they keep their head down and get their share done.
4. The Freshman
Easily identifiable by their inevitable introduction as "technically a sophomore because of credits," the freshman is a bit of a wild card. They typically either have a strong work ethic left over from four years of advanced classes and extra curricular activities, or they are enjoying their first year of freedom with even less thought for their general education class assignments than they have for the hyper-religious protestors on campus every month. Regardless, the freshman may surprise you with their young perspective.
5. The Showstopper
While they're not common, every once in a while you'll get a group member who can rap or dance or design. The Showstopper is a rarity but a blessing for scooping the creativity portion on the rubric.
6. The Reason Everyone Else Has Trust Issues
When you're rehearsing your presentation past 2 a.m. When you have to reschedule meet-ups two, three, four times. When the professor announces a group project and the class sighs as a whole. All these are symptoms of being grouped with the worst, the slacker: the reason everyone develops trust issues. While they undoubtedly can make the thirteen weeks of the semester feel like thirty, remember you'll most likely never have to see them again—just like the rest of the people on your group project team.
