With the fall semester coming to a close, most students (graduate and undergraduate) are frantically completing term papers, preparing for exams, and presenting final projects. In the midst of all this, everyone is doing the same thing - stressing out!
Studying, projects and stress are a normal part of the college experience - even at Shippensburg. And though current students have the benefit of the internet, group chats, and other web tools to complete their projects and help them along, students of the past also found ways to efficiently complete the semester.
Of course, one's dorm room has always been a favorite place to study, even though friends and roommates might be distracting.
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| A Shippensburg student studies in his room during the 1952-1951 academic year. |
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| Another student and a friend (hidden behind the newspaper at right) take time to catch up on the news in 1952. |
When the weather allows, campus lawns offer a relaxing place to meet with friends and catch up with work. Though the weather is currently a bit cold for students to enjoy that study method, spring temperatures will return in a few months.
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| Springtime studies outdoors. |
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| Students study outside the library in 1989. |
In 1977 the Department of Academic Services published a helpful booklet called
Your Study Skills or ... The Care and Feeding of Your Grade Point Average. Available at the time at the college bookstore or by visiting the department, the booklet written by campus administrators offered helpful tips on taking notes, preparing for tests, completing research papers, and other crucial parts of completing college.
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| These suggestions for test anxiety shared in 1977's Your Study Skills or... The Care and Feeding of Your Grade Point Average still have useful advice for students in 2017: Get enough sleep, put things in perspective, get organized, and take a deep breath. |
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| Though some of these 1977 suggestions about the library might be outdated (tapes, cassettes and filmstrips?) the Ezra Lehman Library remains a favorite resource for stressed Shippensburg students. |
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| Students in the reference section of the library in 1977. |
As computers became increasingly useful to students in the late 1980s and early 1990s, computer labs were available across campus for various applications including preparing typed final term papers. Today, computer labs and laptops available at the library's circulation desk continue to be vital tools for students.
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| Computers sure looked different in the 1990s! But the looks of concentration worn by these students certainly seem familiar! |
Though study tools and hairstyles may have changed, Shippensburg students continue to face the end of each semester bravely, completing tests and papers despite the stress. Shippensburg University Archives & Special Collections has lots of images and yearbooks depicting study sessions of the past as well as a copy of
Your Study Skills or... The Care and Feeding of Your Grade Point Average. To look at these, make an appointment to visit by emailing
specialcollections@ship.edu.
Are you feeling stressed as you study and prepare for finals? A variety of resources are available to help you succeed! Librarians are able to help you navigate library resources and databases and figure out citations. Plus, the Learning Center on the main floor of the library (
http://learning.ship.edu/home) can help with writing coaching and content tutoring. Don't forget to take a break from all of your hard work -- visit Lehman Library's galleries to enjoy fun "Winter Stress & Decompress" activities such as cutting out paper snowflakes, doing puzzles, and coloring. Good luck!
Sources
Barbara Crist and Len Czarnecki,
Your Study Skills or ... The Care and Feeding of Your Grade Point Average (Shippensburg: Shippensburg Collegiate Press, 1977).
Cumberland 1952 (Shippensburg, PA: Shippensburg State Teachers College, 1952).
Cumberland 1970, (Shippensburg, PA: Shippensburg State College, 1970).
Photographs, Record Group 30, Shippensburg University Archives & Special Collections, Shippensburg, PA.
