jynx_tsilevon

A story of something that sucked and something two college students did because of it.

So I have this professor, Dr. N let's call him, who teaches my Statics Class. And let me just say, he's an awesome professor. I may love going to class, even when the homework takes me almost five hours to do sometimes. He wrote the book for the class, which I know is hit or miss sometimes. But for this, it's hillarious because now I read the thing in his voice.

His favorite catch phrases are "That's good stuff" and "that's awesome." He's actually a really good teacher, and very fair when it comes to grading and exams and such. Because I have him, I feel like I'm actually learning something. And it's not always about Statics, but most of the time it is.

What's really special about Dr. N is that he takes the time to know all 120 of his students. He knows all of our names,where we sit, possibly all of our majors, and a little bit about each of us. He knows I'm the BME who's always late after Bio exams, know's my friend Lauren is terrified he's going to take her computer away, knows the kid two rows in front of me is a ROTC student (and frequently asks him about how it's going), etc.

He also cares about us, and our well being. Sure, he seems a bit aloof and nutty when he teaches (which, honestly, just makes this class more interesting), but when you get down to it, he does care. Probably more than most people at this University.

Case/point: There is a girl in the class who sits next to my friend/study buddy, Colleen. The girl suddenly vanished from class shortly before Thanksgiving break, and when she came back, Colleen found out that she'd had a terrible accident and lost most of her memory (As Colleen stated, the girl asked Colleen what her name was, what room they were in, what class it was, and why she (the girl) needed to be there. Apparently the girl had only found the room because someone had physically walked her to the door and said "This is your class." ) When the girl (or Colleen, I don't know for sure) went to explain to Dr. N what was going on, he told her not to worry about the class anymore, that her physical and mental well-being were far more important. Also, if she had any questions or needed help in her recovery, he knows the Head of Neurosurgery at Northwestern, if she needed to talk to someone. He could get her that connection.

Oh, and he walked her to the medical center on campus for her check up, because it was after his class and he wanted to make sure she got there safely.

So, in short, he treats us like people.

Last night, we had our third exam for Dr. N's class. I was aprehnsive about it because I kind of needed to do well on the exam to help my grade. I wasn't in trouble, but I have the potential to actually do really well in the class, you know?

Anyway, after telling a few jokes and making us all laugh, Dr. N passed out the exams and we went to work. It was an hour and ten minute exam, almost an hour an a half with all the administrative work that goes on before it.

And you know what? I was doing really well on it.

So of course, with less than twenty minutes left on the clock, the fire alarm gets pulled.

You know when a test is going well for people because they don't get up when a fire alarm goes off. Yeah, none of us wanted to leave.

There may have been a few minutes of awkwardly begging Dr. N to let us stay and finish the exam, fire alarm be damned. And he may have hit the projector in frustration. And then sent us all out. And some of us may have tried to turn in the exam anyway.

Regardless, we ended up outside, and most of us were holding our exams and lamenting in the loss of the grade. We knew the minute we left the building with exams in hand that something was going to have to happen because the ones we were holding could no longer count. And with one day till Dead Week, we didn't know what they were going to do. Were they going to throw the exam, although 3 other sections completed it? Was our class going to have a make up exam (which we all knew would be harder and potentially grade destroying)? What was going to happen?

Naturally poor Dr. N got swarmed the minute he walked out of the building. I expected people to demand answers from him, but I forgot what class I was dealing with. So, surrounded by people, it go really quiet, and one kid asked "Do you want us to go home, Professor?"

"Go home, get some sleep, and keep an eye on the course blog. That's where all the information will be."

One kid joked that we all got hundreds now. Dr. N just smiled and said "Knew I could count on you for all the answers."

We passed the word along and the crowd dissipated quickly. I went home and ate a bag of Swedish fish. Colleen showed up and we lamented together about the loss of our exams, and filled my roommate in because she was in one of the sections that completed their exam.

They started their homework and I putsed around on the internet. And then I joked about sending Dr. N an email filled with pictures of cute animals to counteract the hate mail he was probably getting.

And Colleen looked at me. And then down at her screen. And the at me again.

...Guess who sent Dr. N an email filled with cute fluffy animals last night?

Yeah, Colleen and I did.

To be honest, sending it made us feel better as well. So we didn't expect a reply.

Especailly not TWO replies. One that said "Ha, thanks for these." And another that said "My god these are awesome!:

Dr. N may be getting a slide-tackle hug from Colleen and me on Monday, regardless of what happens with the exams.