After all of the tornado damage at JSU, the students were given an option to take their grade, take an incomplete, or finish the semester. For many students, they couldn’t finish the semester because of how the tornado effected them. This was a situation that most of us students weren’t expecting, but jumped at an opportunity to take the grade in a class with a good grade.

I decided to finish all of my classes and as I finish up the last week of classes found myself asking, “Why didn’t you drop some classes?”

I had good enough grades, but I wanted to challenge myself. Something I have noticed is the harder you work the easier things get and I didn’t want to finish up the semester without doing my best. Yes, taking a grade in some classes would be easier and for some people necessary but for me, there wasn’t a real excuse.

I also truly do want to learn and I didn’t want to miss that opportunity. Not too long ago I told myself I would try not to take the easy way out of things, but I never expected an something like this to happen. The tornado that hit Jacksonville was destructive and many people lost their homes-- I was not one of those people.

I had no excuse, there was a right thing for me to do and I think that finishing the semester was that. It’s strange to look at your campus with all of the damage. I haven’t gotten used to it. This final week isn’t like normal finals, but I still had to finish two 1,200 word assignments between 3-hour long art classes before I was able to finish writing this. It all feels like a mess, but I came to college to learn and if I am serious about it-- I have to finish the semester.