As we arrive back to school from Thanksgiving break, the endless groans of students begin as we start the final three-week stretch of the fall semester. We are at the countdown to finals, the onslaught of projects and presentations and the final push to get the grade. As I watch the madness swirl around me, I have begun to ask myself, where did the passion go?

Where did the drive that pushed us to declare our course of study go? The passion we followed and the dreams of changing the world we sought?

In my experience, these final weeks are certainly the most difficult. We are tired of our classes and overwhelmed by the final requirements of the courses. We forget why we are here studying a topic we love (hopefully) as mindless facts and figures are shoved down our throats and we wonder why we are here as we look ahead to long days, sleepless nights and the end of our lives outside of books that loom ahead.

It sucks.

But as this dismal time lurks in front of us, look past finals. Some will be met with graduation and a completely new life. Others can triumphantly look back at the first completed semester of college. Still others can see the silver lining in new classes, new teachers and a refreshed mind and body for the spring semester yet to come.

In a world where we are groomed to go out and make money, some classes can seem cold, emotionless and appear to suck any passion for a topic we once had with their desire to turn that passion into money and numbers.

Instead of giving into the mindless drone of this incessant need to train us for jobs instead of helping us learn how to live lives that include a job, try to take the time to see what benefit these classes can have in making us people rather than money making machines.

I have been struggling with this issue throughout this semester and I know that many of my classmates have also. It is a simple concept that is difficult to apply. But we need to rediscover our inspiration.

We need to go back to the root of what made us decide to come here and study. We need to find that spark of imagination, knowledge or creativity that set us on the path we are on and use it to stir the coals in order to rekindle the flame.

Remember your desire to help people, to create, to learn, to evolve and to change. Remember how you felt on that day that you realized what you wanted to do with your time here at Iowa State and use this to get through the remaining bit of the semester.

This column is probably a pep talk for me as much as for anyone reading it, but I wish you all the best on this last sprint to the finish. Here’s to passion and inspiration, for we need it to get through.