It was a long semester for everyone. Students and professors alike have been stressed not only with work, but with all of the other parts of life: family, friends, hobbies, etc. We’re sitting on opposite sides of the desk, of course, but that doesn’t mean we can’t sympathize with the other side.

Professors, you probably remember what it’s like being a college student, although a lot has changed since most of you were undergrads, and although students have no idea what it means to actually be a professor, we can imagine being stressed with managing both a household and a job every day. It’s hard enough just taking care of ourselves!

So here’s to the real adults who contribute so much to our lives and all of the thank yous you deserve:

Thank you for actually listening to us.

Maybe it’s because I go to a Christian school or maybe I just have awesome professors, but most of you actually listen when we’re sharing parts of ourselves. Whether we’re just talking about what we did last weekend before class starts or sharing a personal prayer request, you actually listen, which shows that you actually care. You also honestly listen to our opinions. Plenty of people discount what people our age have to say, but you don’t, so thank you.

Thank you for caring about us as people.

When you listen, you show that you care not only about our ability to perform well in the classroom, but our ability to perform well in life. You give us advice, sometimes unsolicited but always appreciated, about everything from dating to graduate school, which also shows that you care about the people we are becoming. Thank you for all of it!

Thank you for moving deadlines.

Whether we begged the change out of you or you moved it on your own, we appreciate the extra time. Sometimes we just procrastinate more, but sometimes we honestly use this time to work harder towards the grade we want. Regardless of what we did with the time, we thank you for it.

Thank you for the laughs.

Whether it’s a funny experience you’re willing to share, hilarious videos on YouTube Tuesday, or re-telling a pun that will make us all groan and laugh, thank you for it. Sometimes we have hard days and the last thing we want to do is come to class, but when you take an extra minute to try and make us laugh, it really does help.

Thank you for being human.

Whether it’s sharing about how you might have accidentally given some of your fellow church members food poisoning from under-cooked meatballs or telling us about how your dog got sprayed by a skunk for the second time in one week, thank you for showing us that you are human.

You stand in front of us so many times a week as a symbol of authority, which I’m sure you like, but we like knowing that your life isn’t perfect. If your life isn’t perfect, then ours can be imperfect too, and it’s nice to know that respectable adults have struggles both big and small.

But thank you for being superhuman too.

You’ve probably gone through tough times and haven’t told us. You’ve probably wanted to cancel class and stay in bed at least once, either because it’s raining too hard and you’re tired or because your aunt is dying and getting up feels impossible with that weight on your chest.

No matter what, though, you got up and came to teach us. You put on a smile and shared your knowledge and we appreciate it. We need people like you in the world, who can see that things are bigger than themselves, and I hope I can grow up to be as strong and as resilient as you are.

Thank you for leading us in discussions about important topics.

I’ve discussed everything from the reality of rape and the horrors of the Holocaust to mental illness and God’s existence in my college career. I’ve seen you, my professors, passionately argue about how we can view the world positively despite all its negatives, and cry about injustice.

Through these passionate class discussions, I have become more comfortable in standing up for my opinion and discussing hard topics in real life. You have helped give me confidence in other classrooms and in life, and I am grateful.

Thank you for canceling class.

No matter how much we love your class, we’re always grateful for that extra hour when you tell us that class is canceled. I often end up using the time for sleeping or eating, but that time can be used for countless other activities and may even mean we get home sooner. It probably annoys you to have to shift the semester because it’s voting day or your baby is sick, but know that we appreciate it.

Thank you for being a professor.

Most of my professors have been absolutely awesome and incredibly skilled, which means you could be doing bigger, better things with your life that don’t involve forcing kids who are learning to be adults to write proper essays or do math the right way. You’d probably make a lot more money in another field too.

And yet, you decided to be a professor. You chose this life and all of its stresses, but hopefully, those stresses are outweighed by joys. Even if it doesn’t, thank you for picking us. Thank you for investing in us.

You have changed my life in innumerable ways, and no list of thank yous will suffice but thank you for doing your best this semester and making my semester great. Enjoy the holidays and see you next semester!