By: Myles Robinson | Publish Date: May 7th, 2026
Temperatures are on the up as the semester winds down at Kean University. Both commuter and dorm students alike are packing the libraries and study halls. Priority number one for most has been making sure to get their last assignments in before the semester closes on the 7th. The windy season blows tension and stress around the air here at the Union, NJ campus, with most of the population keeping their head tucked into their textbooks and notes, studying for finals.
Some students are barely keeping their heads above water, drowning in last-minute studies, research papers, and concluding projects. Other students are floating around comfortably in what feels like a breeze of a culmination that is the last couple of weeks of the spring semester. Even if some students are struggling, there are other students who make the time to help others in group study sessions, and there is always tutoring at the Nancy Thompson Learning Center.
If one thing is for certain: the community at Kean University has always been open, genuine, with key aspects of forward progression. Taking care of yourself is essential to get through this time of the semester.
Jasmine Mejia, who attends study groups and is very active on campus, sheds light on the dorm life community and how she spends her Friday evenings now that the semester is coming to an end.
“It’s very safe here [on campus], the security is really good here, but I try not to stray away from my crowd,” Mejia said. “Especially during the finals, I try to stay indoors and study and just pray that I do well.”
The Medical Laboratory Science major feels that everything happens for a reason and knows that college helps you grow. Native to Key Port, New Jersey, the freshman came to the university because of the Study abroad program that Kean University offers.
The university has multiple different campuses spread throughout parts of New Jersey, and is adding one this summer in Jersey City, however there is an institution almost 10,000 miles away in China.
Known as Wenzhou-Kean, not only do Kean Students get to travel over there to experience life in a different part of the world while also learning what new cities could be like, but there are also exchange programs where Wenzhou students can come over here Union as well. With different programs offering different and unique capabilities across the ocean, some of the Wenzhou students actually prefer Jersey to China.
Zhiyuan Jiang, a computer science major, who walks the campus often with his girlfriend, Yuyan Guo, is graduating in May with plans to come back to America and attend graduate school in New York.
Both students believed the exams in Wenzhou-Kean were more difficult than the ones they’re taking in Kean-USA.
“I think the lectures here are the same, but the exams that I took in Wenzhou are way more difficult,” Guo said.
But one thing is more difficult for Guo, missing authentic Chinese food. Guo doesn’t really like the Chinese food that is around campus, such as the popular spot known as China Star. The couple stays in the Vermel apartments across the street from Kean University. To read more about life as a WKU-exchangee, read a past article of our’s.
Food and culture are very prominent when it comes to making your decision about where you want to go to school. Especially with exchange students or students who were not born in America.
College is very expensive, and for first-generation college students, finals season isn’t the time for de-stressing, relaxing, or break periods. Most students are just trying to finish the semester strong so that they can get home to some authentic good cooking as well as devote the hours that are usually spent in the classroom back to their office or part-time job.
Emmanuel Olaiya, a junior at Kean University born in Nigeria (but raised in New Jersey), prefers to stay in the dorms during weekends regardless of whether it’s finals season. The self-proclaimed “dorm-body” student is an architecture major and really only leaves campus when he gets tired of the cafeteria food.
“It would be a huge discredit towards my parents if I don’t graduate with honors, and what’s really outside; if you really think about it, I mostly just go to class and go to work.”
With the semester closing in a couple of days, students are packing Cougar Walk, eager to get a last couple of chances at soaking in some nice weather. Music is played by a DJ, and food trucks come to campus and provide food. Athletic students clutter the basketball courts and beach volleyball sands, and laughter is drowned out as the speakers play loudly.
Whether students are up here for the freedom aspect that comes along with dorm life, the beautiful campus, the vigorous study programs, or a combination of both, the semester is coming to an end. During college, investments are made that start the foundation of our lives. One of the best things to do as a student is to learn from the mistakes that you made in the spring. If this is done, when fall rolls around, you know better. Even if finals don’t go well, there’s still another chance: Be it in the fall or in the real world.
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