The end of the semester is always tough. There are papers to turn in, presentations to give, and professors to please.

There is a huge amount of pressure put on us to succeed and put down everything that we've learned this year on a few sheets of paper in a blue book. But what's important to remember is all the memories and lasting impressions that this school year has made on us.

Odds are you started out the semester with high hopes, going to class 10 minutes early and scoping out the seating so that you don't have to be in the awkward front row.

You had a planner and wrote everything down every day that needed to be done. All in all, you were on top of it.

However, as the semester starts to drag on, priorities start to slip, you sleep in a little later every day until you are literally running across campus to get to your class.

You stay up until 3 in the morning chatting with friends or going on late-night food runs. These things all take a toll on your academic career, but these things also define who you are as a person.

Sleeping a little longer in the mornings could make you late, but it could also make you run into that friend you haven't seen in ages, making you both later than usual for class.

But that interaction was worth it all the same. Staying up until 3 or 4 in the morning going on late-night adventures has brought me closer to people in such a short amount of time. You may not know someone very well, but go searching for a fast food place open at midnight with them and you'll get to know them probably better than you ever wanted to.

Skipping class on that sunny day and hanging out with friends in the sunshine probably isn't going to boost your GPA or make you become the next Einstein, but it is going to give you some relaxation time (and probably a sunburn).

Going out on the weekends isn't going to make going to work the next morning any easier, but those random people you introduce yourself to could end up being people that stay in your life forever.

Going to school is about learning, and that learning involves the life experiences that college gives you. You are here for classes and to educate yourself, but that education also includes learning about life, about people and about yourself.

When you graduate and look back on your college experience, you will be getting so much more than a diploma.

You'll be getting experiences and memories and people that you will never want to live without. Being a good student is important, but so is being a good and well-rounded person.

So take the time to relax and get to know yourself and others, because when the end of school comes, you'll have so much more than tests, papers, and presentations to show your progress.

You'll have life.