STUDYING | K-State students prepare for finals, graduation

K-State senior human health and biology major Taylor Stephens is graduating Saturday after four years as a Wildcat. She said she discovered some new passions during her time at K-State.

“I was a teaching assistant for the human body course here,” Stephens said, “and I didn’t know that I really liked getting into teaching, but it actually got me into wanting to go into the academic medicine path and teach in the future, so that was a really good opportunity.”

A Kansas City native, Stephens also works at the front desk in Hale Library. She said about 20 students per hour visit the “relaxation stations” on the first two floors of the library, which consist of distractions like coloring pages and Sudoku puzzles.

Stephens will attend the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City this summer.

“It’s a little bit of a relief (to be graduating), but it’s also pretty sad because I’ll be leaving all my friends,” Stephens said. “I’ve gotten to know a lot of people here.”

Freshman computer science major Patrick Kehoe, along with friends and fellow freshmen Luke Nelson and Cody Kottke, were studying for their Calculus 1 final exam Wednesday in the Sunderland Innovation Lab housed within Hale Library.

The trio utilized a whiteboard table to map out equations. Nelson said he learned that he cannot treat collegiate exams the same as tests in high school.

“They are not the same,” Nelson said. “You can’t start studying an hour before the exam and hope to pass.”

A mechanical engineering major from Overland Park, Nelson said he’s been studying for the Calculus 1 final for the past three weeks, for three hours a day.

“You’re going to get out of it what you put in,” Kottke said.

Kottke, a native of Eagan, Minn., declared his industrial engineering major just a few days ahead of the last day of classes for the spring semester. The Fort Riley veteran started his first semester at K-State this spring, and he said he's had some difficulties transitioning into the collegiate landscape.

“It’s not impossible, you just have to put in the effort," Kottke said.

“No college course is truly impossible,” Kehoe said. “It’s really about how much you care about what you’re doing.”

Kehoe, who is from St. Louis, Missouri, said most of his friends and classmates are attending Missouri State University.

“I wanted to like, re-start or branch off,” Kehoe said. “I went on a tour (of campus) and I liked it. K-State has way more of a computer science program than what Mizzou offers.”

Final exams wrap up Friday. K-State commencement ceremonies begin Friday with the Graduate School at 1 p.m., and the Veterinary Medicine program at 3:30 p.m. More graduation ceremonies are slated for Saturday, beginning at 8:30 a.m. with the College of Arts and Sciences.