I took this photo last Thursday when I cranked through grading 150 papers and got my desk cleared off. It was partially fueled by the humongous free birthday drink I redeemed at Starbucks that afternoon and it was an exercise in sheer determination to not have that much grading hanging over my head on my birthday. I actually got home from class that night and stayed up grading the work that night's class had turned in so that I could really be done. The clock struck midnight on my birthday and I was grading...joking that it was my birthday gift to myself to get it done.
Thankfully, right now my desk looks like this again after another full day of work. Tomorrow ends the semester at the state school, although I have a final to give for one class on the 16th. Tomorrow my Order and Change class meets for the last time. They have been presenting their Change the World Projects over the last three days of class and it has been better than I could have ever imagined. It has been incredibly inspiring and sometimes emotional to hear what students poured their hearts into...as a class we have all been brought to tears a few times already. Tomorrow we just have a few presentations left and then I will present my project. Thanks to the generosity from a couple dozen of you, and some of my neighbors and friends, I was able to give out a $300 scholarship for the fall semester. I am hoping to continue to grow the scholarship in the future, but then also take on another project along with my new batch of Order and Change students in the fall.
First though, this semester's class is celebrating after the last presentation. I am bringing a big bowl of dip and chips and Sean has made two batches of this.
