The work never stops.

The end of the semester is here and students are all winding down into the homestretch filled with papers, last-minute cramming for exams and scrambling to get final projects completed.

Professors are completing their final lectures, catching up on grading and preparing for final exams. As an aside, professors are not permitted to schedule any tests during the last week of classes during the fall or winter semesters.

It’s certainly been an eventful semester for Oakland University as well. National attention has been given to the school twice this semester and the response has been tremendous.

But the work doesn’t stop now. OU President Gary Russi is preparing to inform the campus of the direction the school is heading and the progress that has been made with achieving goals set forth through the Vision 2020 plan.

The school is also preparing to implement a new branding strategy, which is being spearheaded by Janell Townsend, an associate professor of marketing.

The work shouldn’t stop for you, either. We don’t mean to suggest you should study all throughout break, cancel your planned vacations or work yourselves to the bone.

What we want you to do is continue to think of ways to contribute to this campus. It was great to see the excitement drummed up by events like the Republican presidential debate and the men’s basketball game against Tennessee, but the excitement needs to carry through the rest of the year.

That way, we can each make our own mark on the campus and make an impact on the quality of campus life.

Be proactive about affecting the campus and there’s no better time to do that than after finals.

It takes minimal work now to start a student organization, which requires only four students, an adviser and the necessary paperwork that is now available online thanks to the GrizzOrgs system.

If that’s not your thing, consider at least perusing GrizzOrgs and finding a club or two to join.

Creating a vibrant campus atmosphere helps the school and students alike. Consider ways to contribute to that.

The first step is to get informed about happenings on campus and picking up this newspaper is one of the best ways to do that.

Get involved and be proactive about changing things you don’t like, too.

Are you unhappy about free Scantrons not being readily available at the OU Student Congress office?

What about the decrease in the size of the newspaper readership program? You can get involved with Student Congress and have a say in what they do as the governmental body that represents students.

We have asked for your feedback in this product and are continually seeking it. The work doesn’t stop for us, either.

We will continue to work through this break as well and keep giving you information that you need to know. We are also working on a new look for the paper, which will debut in January.

We are improving the student newspaper and are telling you to help improve the campus.

This break, don’t just fade into the background. Get involved with your university.