Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Kettering University senior Jessica Bruce, who is from Flint, Michigan, and is majoring in Industrial Engineering. If you’d like to write a guest post, e-mail phayes(at)kettering(dot)edu.

By Jessica Bruce

This summer ended up being quite the whirlwind of activity for me. Two Liberal Studies classes, both with heavy reading assignments kept me ridiculously busy, but I never missed a reading and did well in all my classes. My advice: listen to the Liberal Studies department and avoid taking two LS classes at one time. I lucked out because I am an extremely fast reader, but not all Kettering students are so lucky.

Going from non-stop scheduled homework or activity to the, somewhat, more relaxed lifestyle of work term was a bit jarring this fall. Over the summer I picked up knitting and crocheting as a stress reliever, so I’ve been keeping busy with personal projects. I might have my thesis to work on but keeping busy after hours has been challenging.

Speaking of my thesis, I am in the homestretch of the testing phase and have already written up all the current data. The rough draft of my thesis is on schedule to be finished before the end of this term, which is incredibly exciting. Seeing my thesis almost done is like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel (the good kind) come just a little closer.

Due to a strange set of scheduling circumstances, this is my last work term and I will be taking winter 2015, spring 2015 and summer 2015, back-to-back-to-back. Madness, I know. Trust me, I wouldn’t be doing three terms in a row by choice, but I’d rather graduate earlier and start a full-time job sooner. At least this way I’ll be getting to spend some time with my B-section friends.

This past Friday, my fiancé and I went to the opening of the “Art of Video Games” exhibit opening at the Flint Institute of Arts.

The curator of the exhibit, Chris Melissinos, gave a presentation on the history behind his involvement of video games and their impact on society as a whole. He is a fellow video game enthusiast and hearing about the development of the art of video games over the last 40 years was really interesting. The exhibit covers games from the first Atari consoles all the way to the modern consoles and even PC games. It includes around 80 different games as well as five playable game stations in the exhibit, which Kettering sponsors. The exhibit focuses on the actual art of the games, as well as the effect of the gameplay mechanics and storylines as well. Each station has a quick minute or so blurb that you can listen too in order to learn more about the games displayed.

The exhibit is open until January 18, 2015, and is free on Saturdays. It is really something that everyone should take advantage of because it’s a lot of fun and is very interesting to see how the art of the video games affects society and how we view the world today. I plan on going back several times just to get a chance to play all the different video games.