Finals week is upon us. This week is one of the most stressful weeks of the semester, probably even the most stressful week of the semester. Final exams can make or break your grade in a class. If your class average is on the borderline of failing or if your GPA is almost what you want it to be, the grade you get on your final exam is vital.

While we spend hours upon hours of studying, stressing, and losing sleep over these tests, there is one thing we must be reminded: the passion you have for your major. You chose the major you’re in for a reason. You want to help people. You want to be a leader. You want to be an inspiration. You have a passion for your major. Or maybe, you just love the field you plan to go into. It’s hard to see the bigger picture of graduating and working in the field while being so overwhelmed with so many tests.

"Allow your passion to become your purpose, and it will one day become your profession."

We are so laser focused on these final grades that we are forgetting what we will do with our degree. Our degree isn’t simply a piece of paper to frame on the wall of our office or just a conversation starter. Our degree will be a tool that we will use to achieve our goals and help people. As teachers, we will help students that have a hard life outside of the classroom. We will help kids who want to succeed but don’t have the support at home. As doctors, nurses, and surgeons, we will heal the sickly. We will provide comfort to the elderly and their families when it becomes time to let go. As businessmen and businesswomen, we will be influential to the rest of the world through our ability to complete the hardest of tasks successfully. We will inspire the business world through our ethics and integrity. As a social worker, you will help children get out of painful or dangerous situations. In any field and after receiving any degree, we will move on to the “real world” and begin working to inspire and help other people succeed as well.

So, stay busy. Stay tired. Stay stressed. But stay passionate. Stay inspired. Keep working hard. Ace these tests. And don’t forget why you’re striving for this degree. Use your career goals and passion of your major to fuel your hard-work during finals week.

You’ve got this.

“Your degree is just the door. Your work ethic is the key. But it is only by the grace and the strength of God that you will walk through that door and help whoever may be on the other side.”