The leaves on the trees had begun to fall, the wind began to feel like daggers piercing the skin, and most important of all, the final exams approached.
It was nearing the end of the Fall semester at the University of Oklahoma. Not a student was in sight, as many were nestled away in their dorms from the outside cold preparing for the final exams. Winter break was right around the corner! They had sailed their journey for as long as they could remember, and soon they would reap the fruits of their labor: no homework, no studying, and even Christmas! It was the day every student, even a lot of the faculty, awaited since the first day of class. Labor Day weekend, Fall break, Thanksgiving break, were measly rewards for their efforts compared to the month-long Winter break that awaited them after the final exams near the end of December. And, so, like a ship ready to dock, they had nearly arrived.
But one thing stood in their way from all this happiness: final exams. Thus, the students began relentlessly studying. Although they were so close to being free, they needed to go out with a bang, which was a spot on the President's honor roll, and so they studied.
Everyone was in it together. Close friends helped one another. People made new friends and study-buddies and doubled up on their methods of studying. It was one for all, and all for one; everyone was on each other's team.
The days passed both slowly and quickly, something one can only understand if they have undergone this stressful studying period. But, eventually, the day was here. All the preparation the students had gone through, the discouragement they had faced, the pessimism that had filled their half-filled glasses built up to this momentous occasion: final exams.
The students, one by one, entered the cave of the final exams. They kept one thing in mind: they were nearly free!
The brave entered and began first, while the others stood back and waited to build up courage. They eventually realized they were losing exam time, and so they rushed in the exam hall. Time passed slower than it ever had in any other day of the semester. Every question was answered with extreme precision and thought. Overthinking questions fogged the minds of some students, while others applied their learned knowledge with ease and confidence and easily answered questions as they whizzed by. Cody Sseus, the hardest worker of them all, persisted.
The other students were unsuccessful. While Cody escaped and made his way home with a smile on his face with his gleaming report card, the others felt like prisoners, still at school and unable to enjoy their break without their spots on the President's list, which would have earned them great amounts of kudos. They eventually came to realize that, even though school is important and should be taken seriously, an exam score did not define their worth. And, so, they moved on with their lives.
Thus, regardless of the results, they knew that the beast - the final exams - had been defeated. And now, it was time for their next steps in their journeys.
--- Author's Note ---
This idea seemed a lot better in my head before it came onto paper, but I feel like that is the entire point of writing sometimes! My story may seen nonsensical, but it is a rendition of The Odyssey, when Odysseus and his men reach the land of the Cyclops. Instead of using an actual character in the place of the Cyclops, I swapped the concept with the "final exams," where the "men," or students, had to overcome this great feat to return home (Winter break) which was actually Ithaca for Odysseus and his men. On top of that, not all the men survived alongside Odysseus, as some remained trapped on the island or were killed. That was another part of my inspiration as I looked back to my early years of college, where I felt that some of my friends had not felt like they had succeeded with their exams, while others were ecstatic with their results. I attempted to make the concepts similar in that, just like how Odysseus and his men found the island to be beautiful at first, but eventually were faced with the Cyclops, I had the students act gleeful to finish, but still worried to get the exams over with. Some escaped, and others remained prisoners. But, for both, it was all one journey to return to home.
I also added the idea that, even though in The Odyssey the men were essentially fighting for their lives to escape, the students at the university were only taking a test, but they felt the fear and the anticipation that the men did, as they had set their goals so high (the President's list). Of course, as many students have learned, grades do not define a person. And, even though grades are important - so important it brings upon great anxiety such as the anxiety the students faced in this story while tackling final exams, it is important to move on and not let a single grade, or grades, define one's worth.