Preparing for finals at the TECH
WRITTEN BY: SIENA SOHN
Finals week: infamously known for its brutal days of no sleep, endless studying, hundreds of cups of coffee, and stressful papers. Throughout all of these tough, pre-winter break days, students at Temple University find comfort in the TECH Center, located on 12th street. This 75,000 square foot space gives students the tools they need to be successful when it comes to their academics, especially final exams. The TECH Center also includes student breakout rooms for group projects and study sessions, music and multimedia studios, laptop and tablet loans, and most importantly, a Starbucks Café. The best part though? The TECH Center is open 24/7 through December 16, at 9:30 p.m., officially marking the end of the Fall 2015 Semester.
Many students this semester are taking solace in the fact that the TECH is available to them, simply because it is a great place to get work done. According to junior transfer student Alana Domingo, she prefers the TECH Center to study because she “gets really unfocused easily when [she’s] at [her] apartment,” which is valid, considering the TECH Center was created to be a place for distraction-free studying, where owls can easily get all their work done. Like Domingo, TU freshman Hayden Spangler agrees, stating that “it’s a better environment to study, because other people are working, making me feel motivated to get my own stuff done.” Among other students, the TECH is the ideal study place because of the hundreds of computers available to them, whether you need Windows or Mac, or a single or double screen, or a music or multimedia studio, the TECH has it all.
Ultimately, the TECH is tailored to meet the needs of students who are cramming for finals, specifically by making different resources available to them. For example, the most favored place to study in the TECH for transfer student Joey Cruz is “the lounge chairs” so he “can comfortably study.” Others, like Domingo and Spangler, favor the general computer labs, as opposed to their own laptops, since each computer has “every resource you need already uploaded on it.” Every computer accessible to students offers nearly 150 software programs; a list of these different software packages can be found online on the TECH’s website: https://computerservices.temple.edu/lab/tech-center
Since the TECH Center is widely known around campus, hundreds of students will be assembling there this week, so if it is too crowded or loud, there are alternative places on campus for students to go to get their work done. Need quiet? Head to the second floor of the Samuel L. Paley Library. Need help answering those tough science and math questions? Check out the Center for Learning and Student Success, which offers tutoring and academic support for stressed owls.
Since finals week officially begins Thursday, Dec. 10, owls will be flocking to this facility before and during the next coming days in order to take full advantage of the means available to them. With this range of resources provided to students during finals at the TECH Center, each owl has the exact tools they need in order to succeed with their upcoming finals, and gaining momentum along the way.
