Testing Center Burnett Hall

     Walking into Burnett Hall on the City Campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln you see a door that leads into a room that is jam packed full of students and computers. Stacked in rows and rows are Macintosh computers that are all wired into the network so that anyone can come use them. This certain testing center is open for many hours and the schedule allows you to be very flexible when you have to take a test there.
      One thing that I have noticed on my multiple trips to this place is the amount of stress that tends to emulate from this room. When you walk by you can almost feel the static in the air. Students crowd around the door during busy times when all the computers are full. Each one has a notebook or textbook out, doing a little last minute cramming. There are also students that flood the hallway benches that seem to just not be ready to try the test itself and come out there to sprawl out and study with some headphones in, dead to the world.
       On the other hand, there are students that come in and see the line and before even thinking, turn right around and walk right back out the door. I was one of those students today. I didn't want to sit and dread the test I was about to take, so I went and got a snack and a coffee. I figured I shouldn't be hungry and tired during my test anyway. So I head back to that static, a room full of students that stress so much because these tests they are taking are a matter of passing and failing, life and death in some cases. But not all is bad in the testing center, every once in a while someone passes with flying colors and leaves the room with a smile on their face.