Futures often hinge on final exams

By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Lucadia Bee doesn't plan on losing any sleep over her upcoming math and religion finals.

Lucadia Bee, with her 9-year-old daughter, Kalei Castro, studies for her finals at Leeward Community College. As Bee pursues her goal of becoming a nurse, she runs a daycare, works as a cocktail waitress and takes care of her daughter. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

To Bee, final exams are the finish line to a semester-long race, one that she's tried to approach with diligence and concentration.

"You have to stay on top of things from the beginning," she said. "Once you fall behind in your classes, you're in trouble."

Today marks the beginning of finals week in the University of Hawai'i system and at other local colleges. Like tax day, a visit to the dentist, and the last shopping week before Christmas all rolled into one, it's a time of heightened anxiety for a broad swath of the community, including so-called nontraditional students who, like Bee, have to juggle jobs, families and other obligations.

This semester, Bee took a full-time course load: math and Hawaiian on campus; religion, and information and computer science online.

It wasn't easy.

A typical school day finds Bee up at 5:30 a.m. helping her daughter, Kalei, 9, get ready for school. After seeing her safely aboard her bus, Bee returns home to greet her four young daycare charges. Over the course of the day, Bee will lead them in art projects, singing and other educational activities.

At 4:30 p.m., Bee takes Kalei to soccer practice.

At 5 p.m., parents start picking up the daycare kids.

At 6:30 p.m., Bee picks up Kalei from practice.

And, supper on the table notwithstanding, the day isn't over.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Bee's boyfriend picks up Kalei from practice so Bee can attend night classes. Two nights a week, Bee works as a server at the Hibiscus Club, where she tries to leave on time, around 2 a.m.

"You get used to it," Bee said, shrugging.

While final exam week marks the end of one cycle of study, Bee's sleep-deprived life will continue for at least a few more years.

Bee is in her second semester at LCC. She plans on transferring to Hawai'i Pacific University in another year to study nursing.

Keith Vierra, 44, has been at LCC for two years, completing liberal arts requirements that will allow him to transfer to UH-Manoa, where he intends to study electrical engineering.

Vierra is no stranger to final exams. He first attended LCC in the 1970s, and he earned an associate's degree from what was then the DeVry Institute of Technology.

"It's all in the preparation," he said. "It's all about being systematic. Other people are into multi-tasking, but I don't think that gets the job done well. I do things one at a time, systematically, and they get done the right way."

Of course, Vierra has more life experience than the typical college student. He worked in Silicon Valley, Calif., for 20 years in engineering- and tech-related jobs before a series of misfortunes (the tech industry crash, a divorce, and serious health problems) found him back in Hawai'i looking for a fresh start.

Hampered by a minor stroke, surgery to relieve serious sleep apnea, and other health problems, Vierra returned to school with aid from the federal Department of Vocational Rehabilitation.

"I had nothing really to tie me down, so I decided why not go back and be a broke student," he said.

But even Vierra's happy return to academia has been filled with what he calls "life stress."

Vierra's elderly father was hospitalized for several months last year; he passed away this January.

"I basically lived at (The Queen's Medical Center) for seven months and went to school during the day," Vierra said. "It was hard on me and my family."

Compared to that, Vierra said, Art 101, History 152 and Math 103 shouldn't be anything to stress over.

"I just take things day by day, one at a time," he said.

Still, for many Hawai'i college students, final exams are a big deal.

"It's not life and death, but it's pretty close," said Jay Uchida, a sophomore at UH-Manoa. "Your whole college life is centered around your grades, and for a lot of guys your finals decides your grades."

Uchida knows that academic indiscretions can linger for years.

"If you screw up on your final, maybe you don't get into the program you want to get into, or maybe you don't get into grad school, or you don't get the best job," he said. "It's always there on your transcript. It's total stress."

Jeff Brooks-Harris, a psychologist at the UH Counseling and Student Development Center, said students usually experience stress-related problems well before final exams actually roll around.

"If they're going to get anxious or depressed, it's going to happen a few weeks before the semester ends," he said. "Usually, by the time finals come around students have either decided to hunker down and get through it, or, if they haven't been going to class and they're way behind, they give up."

UH-Manoa student Keri Haraga said finals week is particularly difficult for dorm residents, who have to move out the day after finals are done. "It's one more thing you have to think about," she said.

The Manoa campus accommodates students during finals week, with extended library hours, overnight stay-awake parties and services, and designated "quiet hours" at the dorms.

"But nobody really pays attention to the quiet hours," Haraga said. "People are on different schedules, and it's really noisy at night."

Haraga, a sophomore majoring in fashion design and merchandising, has two final projects behind her and two final exams to go before she heads home to Hilo for part of the summer.

Like thousands of UH students who work at least part time (she's a sales associate at Chelsea in Manoa), Haraga said she has to be disciplined in balancing her work and study times. "I just try to plan ahead," she said.

Dr. Ed Kalinowski, department chair of the Emergency Medical Services department at Kapi'olani Community College, said the future paramedics and emergency medical technicians he teaches aren't likely to succumb to the stress of finals week.

"They're probably a little better at coping than the average student," he said. "They have to focus a lot during the semester, so they usually don't have anything to worry about when it comes time to take a test."

Students at HPU are resting easier after finishing their exams last week. HPU student Homan Farrokhamanesh, who was born in Iran and raised in Sweden, said he had to make an adjustment to the gravity of American final exams when he first came to Hawai'i in 2000.

"It's more serious than in Sweden," he said. "Here, everything depends on grades. In Sweden, it was pass-fail and you had a chance to retake tests if you didn't do well.

"Here, if you mess up, you mess up."

That's why during the weeks leading up to his final exams, Farrokhamanesh puts aside his usual routine of "working out, partying and going to the beach" and studied for five or six hours a night.

Did it help?

"Nah," he said, "I messed up good."

Reach Michael Tsai at 535-2461, or mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.