It's about that time of semester Orediggers.

That's right, classes are in full swing, homework assignments are piling up, nights are getting later, meetings are getting more frequent, exams are happening again. It seems like each year we go into the semester like "of yeah, I totally heard senior year is easier than junior" and to my continued surprise, that is just always wrong. It always gets more intense, it always means less sleep than the last year, it always means hitting at least one more mental wall.

But the great news is, when we put ourselves through all of that craziness, we have to believe the rewards on the other side are so very worth giving it our all. That A-ced (or B-ed, maybe C-ed but that's so rad too) exam, the rewarding conversation in office hours, the satisfaction of putting the staple on the 15 page homework. It makes it all worth it as long as we look at it with a lens of appreciation for our own intelligence and how far we have come as a student. Not to mention how much the community was built up around us along the way.

So, in light of this time of year when we might need a little perking up, it can't hurt to let out a few laughs for the all-too-relatable life of an Oredigger. Taking things a little more lightly is sometimes just what we need to remember that our life might be in school right now, but school is not our entire life. We are so much more than the trials and tribulations that happen on that campus Monday through Friday (or more like Saturday morning through Friday afternoon).

I guarantee at least a few of you know all about that feeling junior year when MechE's finally get through the CAE assignment that was so seemingly sort, but so realistically terrible:

Or when you are getting ready for a presentation about a systems design that literally no part of your group understood the entire time:

Oh, that terribly inglorious moment when you ask for help on an assignment you worked on for 8 hours this weekend and your professor lets you know you have done it 100% incorrectly:

Then there are those days when you totally forgot about your Mastering homework due that evening and need to sweet talk your best friends into helping a sista out:

The Thursday evening when your friends from Boulder call you to go out and you, for the 138th time, have to bail because Heat Transfer homework doesn't wait on a social life to be due:

And of course the phone call back home, when mom and dad don't understand why you sound so frustrated every time you call to check in:

And oh the joys of that day when you finally don't fail the in class Feedback quiz and feel that proud glance of the professor who has learned to keep his expectations low:

Or that moment when a long, exhausting day at the library leaves your roommates' request for whether or not you can hand him the remote with:

And, most importantly, that first day of classes jump for joy when you walk into lecture and there are more than 3 other girls in there for once:

But at the end of the day, all of these crazy moments are what make us such an awesome community of people all pursuing engineering and struggling, rejoicing, and laughing through it together. Its not every day you get people who truly truly understand what it means to make it through engineering school.

Here's to crushing your classes as the semester keeps ramping up. If you are questioning this at all, know confidently that you are intelligent, you are valuable, and you are going to get done every single thing that is meant to get done. Happy studying, friends!