Today is the last day of my regular classes this semester.  It has been a very long semester filled with turmoil and upheaval at the university and in my life.  These last two months in particular have been exhausting…but, I think I survived (this may be a premature statement)…I am still standing – albeit, barely.

I am always a bit melancholy at the end of the semester as I know I have to say goodbye to a group of students that I have worked with all semester and that have created a bond with not only me, but also with each other – and I know, from past experience, that I will miss them and wish I had more time with them (not so sure if that feeling is reciprocal on the students’ part).  The segue is particularly difficult in the spring semester as the break is often longer and more students graduate and scatter to the wind. 

In my Disaster Response class this semester my students really bonded as a group.  Students in my classes are always made to work together in class and outside of class, but in some classes the class cohesiveness is greater than in others – such is the case in Disaster Response.  We ran through five different student created exercises (disaster response scenarios) over the past three weeks and in those exercises I observed a different group of folks than had started with me in January – more confident, more relaxed and more connected.  They have come to know one another and have come to understand how to best work together.  Considering that collaboration is one of the core competencies I teach to in my classes I am always happy to see that end result.

So, the semester will end and I will wish my students well as I send them off and hope that I don’t miss them too very much.  I will try and recoup some of the sanity that has been stripped away this past semester over the summer and prepare to face this dance again come the fall. 

But as for today…today I will go back to my office after my final class of the day, sit in my comfy corner chair and reminisce for awhile on all that has happened over this past semester.  In my time at NDSU, my life has come to be demarcated not so much in days, months or calendar years, but instead in semesters and academic years; and, although this block of time known as Spring 2010 will go down in history as having been a very tough semester it  is not one without many pleasant memories, laughs and moments of growth for me and my students. 

And so the cycle of life at the institution continues…birth, growth, and separation.   I’ll be in my office (102B Putnam) for a few hours after my final class ends at 2:00 PM today – visitors with chocolate and laughs are welcome…visitors who come and invite me out to partake of alcoholic beverages will be put on my Christmas list.

Day three hundred and five of the new forty – obla di obla da

CC