Final Project - Colleen Neely

Final exams are a majorly stressful time for every college student. Long days and late nights studying are a given, but there is so much more than just studying for exams that students do and focus on. Eat college and university has a culture to finals week, unique to them. In this photoessay, I explore the culture of finals at UMD specifically, while also including more universal experiences.

Freshman Architecture major Hannah Brayshaw has final projects for one one of her architecture classes in lieu of a final exam. She sits in the fifth floor lounge of Ellicott Hall to work on her project.

Several hours into her project, Brayshaw references her sketches to work on the model she has to build.

Because this is a final project, Brayshaw has to include more advanced design elements on her building model than usual. The intensity of this project forced her to work on it over several days.

Brayshaw continues working on her final, which can be seen in the foreground. She puts the finishing touches on the model before turning it in to her professor.

Devota, a therapy dog with Wags for Wellness happily enjoys being pet and loved by students seeking stress relief from finals on McKeldin Mall.

Wags for Wellness is a UMD organization through the University Counseling Center. The group brings in therapy dogs several times a month throughout the semester for students. During the Stress Less Carnival on McKeldin Mall, five therapy dogs were brought in.

Lynn Huang, a sophomore elementary education major, pets Tahoe, a therapy dog, on May 8.

Ice cream from the Maryland Dairy was provided at the Stress Less Carnival. The ice cream is produced on campus.

McKeldin Mall experiences higher traffic than usual around finals week and the days leading up to it as students are no longer in classes, but focused on preparing for exams.

An often overlooked aspect of spring finals is moving out. College students who live in the dorms have to balance studying and taking exams while packing up their dorm rooms at the same time. The best plan for many is to start early and slowly pack over the entirety of finals. UMD requires residents of on-campus dorms to vacate their rooms within 24 hours of taking their last exam.

A popular tradition at UMD is to take an offering to Testudo, the school's mascot. University legend says that those who provide the Testudo outside McKeldin Library with an offering will be rewarded with good luck on finals.

 Offerings given to Testudo can be anything and are often extreme. A popular offering is empty liquor bottles and food. The university closely monitors the offerings given to Testudo. Because of the sheer volume, the statue has to be cleaned several times a day during finals.

 These photos show the progression of offerings left throughout the day. Many students favor bringing Testudo their offerings in the middle of the night.

 Offerings can get pretty extreme during finals. Several years ago, for example, Testudo was set on fire. Another common occurrence is for people to remove campus signs and objects from their designated spots and give them to Testudo.

 In this photo, taken on May 17, a panel from an elevator with the buttons was removed and given to Testudo. Taken at 7:30 a.m. on the second day of finals, Testudo was cleaned off by 9:30 a.m. that morning. 
Students often try to outdo one another with their Testudo offerings, as can be seen by the couch and recycling receptacles in this photo.

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