Midterms

By Nicholas Bossman

            Midterm presentations are today. This would make my second midterm as a graduate student (first in a regular semester). My board consists of my final site plan as it is this far, a section, some preliminary perspectives, and my study models. There is also a digital presentation that goes with it. In that, I have a ton of diagrams outlining what I plan to have in the building and where. Besides this, all three of my group members have the same thing to do as well. Plus a group board which is seven feet long and a group presentation. This sure will be fun.

            The good news is that we are the first ones to present, so we will get it over with first. I usually do better with presentations if I rehearse it (in my head) so I know where to go with it while it is happening. Sometimes, if I don’t do that, I will stutter, or forget things, or just plain lose track. Then, you guessed it, my face gets redder that ever and everyone knows I messed up.

            Sometimes, however, I do great, and everything comes out well and I stay on track. Those moments are awesome. It show you were prepared even though you have many obstacles. Doing it that way, my face never turns red. I don’t get embarrassed about my performance, and that ends up being one of the main goals of this presentation, other than getting my point across, which goes hand in hand because if I do not get my point across, you guessed it, I get embarrassed.

            Luckily, I have had some caffeine this morning so I am ready to go. It will not wear off because I am the first group to present. I wonder how many people will be there. It is different than in the summer because there were not a lot of people around on campus to show up. Now, anyone can show up. Oh well, it is not like I haven’t done it before. I guess the fact that we are the top in the program puts a little pressure one it. But it is not the final product, so there will be holes.

            I better go pin up now. My teammate just took our site study model to the gallery. My board is waiting for me to display it. Wish me luck! I am a little nervous, but more confident.