Finals Cat. Who is he? What is he? How did he come to be? Does anyone even know? Every finals week, my friends and I have spotted this stuffed animal every once in a while, but we never thought much of it. After all, we didn't even know that this cat had a name. This past finals week, I kept seeing the cat everywhere I went. Tired of wondering what this cat meant, I began an investigation.

I first noticed Finals Cat this semester on Monday, December 10th, 2018 with its head popping out of someone's backpack at Midnight Breakfast. I thought it was funny. I had always seen this cat around finals. I laughed with my friends and moved on.

Later that night, when watching my friends' stories on social media, I saw this same cat appear at least three times. One of the posts was even captioned "Go like 'Stony Brook Finals Cat' on Facebook!" I was intrigued, but didn't feel like looking up the Facebook page; so I just put it in the back of my head and continued procrastinating.

The next day, I had completely forgotten about this cat. I woke up, had breakfast, and got on the Inner Loop from West Apartments to make my way to the library. When the bus arrived in the SAC loop, lo and behold, Finals Cat was right in front of me, peeking out of someone's backpack again. I just laughed out loud.

That same day, I got a text message from my friend with a link to a Facebook post. This was what she sent me:

The Stony Brook VIS Office posted this on their Facebook page! I wasn't sure what to make of it but I knew that this was a sign. Without hesitation, I opened up the Stony Brook Finals Cat Facebook page. What I found was unexpected and yet pleasantly surprising.

I found out that Finals Cat is nothing less than a good omen. The Facebook page is at least five years old. The posts consist of photos or videos accompanied by captions describing the daily life of Finals Cat. Some captions have messages that spread positive and encouraging messages to Seawolves during finals week:

And some are just silly pictures meant to make stressed students smile:

Either way, Finals Cat just emits positive energy. They say that if you spot this cat in real life, you'll pass all your finals. Just like those tweets that used to go around saying "Retweet this for good luck," Finals Cat will also bring you good fortune. Make sure to like the Facebook page to keep up with Finals Cat's shenanigans for next finals season! And keep an eye out for him; you never know when a good luck charm is right around the corner!