This past week, as the #LDOC craziness ensued at UNC-Chapel Hill and every student made the overwhelming yet eerily calm transition to "reading days" before finals, I noticed something. On campus, one of our geotags read "You are more than your grade" as a supposed reassurance that finals do not determine our value as people. However, regardless of this uplifting message and the attempts that UNC, along with many other college campuses, are making to keep students calm and comfortable during finals- that phrase is a lie.

As children, it's likely that we all were, at some point, handed a "Color by Numbers" crayon or paint set. For those who aren't familiar, numbers on different sections of a painting aligned with the color you were supposed to use to complete a portrait. Now, I could go on some rant about how this was early capitalistic conformity working its magic in our earliest days, but I am not. However, I am going to draw (pun intended) some parallels, as, several years later, we are still in a direction guided by numbers.

Regardless of movements to abolish standardized tests, measure knowledge through effort or experience, and stray away from the itemization of the qualities that determine the grade we deserve, our college experience still boils down to a set of digits. The existing systems of higher education, combined with personal expectations among students, societal pressures, and economic tensions correlating with post-graduation employment rates are all factors that can make or break our future, as well as our mental health.

It's common knowledge that finals week is an unsettling purgatory between the stress of classes and the bliss of going on break. However, this time is also a defining characteristic of college life, as final exams are the last piece of the oppressive puzzle inflicted by educational institutions and their arithmetical expectations.

Regardless of one's age, affinity for guided coloring projects, progression through the evolution of expectations, or highest level of completed education, there's no denying your life is governed by different combinations of numbers 0-9. However, that geotag had the right idea, because regardless of the outcome of your test-taking abilities or efforts put forth in a class, you are worthy, and that can't be represented with a two or three digit number. In a time of high stress and pressure, remember that the truest accomplishments are hard work, pride, integrity, and getting to go home after the long semester you just had.

That being said, rock on, practice self care, and get back at the system by kicking those finals' butts.