Watching people fall flat on their backs during the 2003 snow day is senior Gina Wilson's favorite memory of TCU."On our snow day, all these TCU students get the idea they can walk to their friends' and they all fell over," said Wilson, a movement science major. "Every five seconds someone would fall over."

Wilson and other December graduates said TCU prepared them for the real world.

"(TCU) opened up my eyes to different types of people," Wilson said. "It opens up your eyes to more of the real world."

Though most students go to college to get a degree and further their careers, some students seem to make a career out of going to college - but not on purpose.Chris McNabb, a fifth-year senior, said he would have liked to graduate in four years. He said he thinks the reason he has had to stay an extra year and has had to take more than 20 hours a semester the last two years is due to taking too much time picking a major.

Classes are complete, finals are out the door and holiday cheer has blown in - seemingly a few weeks earlier every year. Sure, the possibility of joining the hordes of shoppers piling through mall doors at 6:30 a.m is always an option. But if you rather enjoy your time off with family, friends and loved ones, check out these holiday festivities in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

DALLAS

After dealing with the fraternity's second hazing incident in two semesters, Sigma Alpha Epsilon president John Athon said he knew it was time for a change.The second incident involved SAE pledge trainers yelling at pledges during fall Recruitment, Athon said.

"It was a straw that broke the camel's back," Athon said. "It was time to fix the problem from a different direction."

At the time, Athon said SAE wasn't aware raising voices at pledges was considered hazing. Regardless, Athon said he did not approve of their actions.

Last fall everyone took a political beating; this fall we took a beating from nature.Sure, we had Cindy Sheehan and some indictments to stir up the political stew a bit, but energy prices soon knocked those out of the news.

TCU football regained its rightful place as a Top 25 program.

And this semester, we seem to have made it through without a major sexual controversy. That may speak volumes about the lack of dating at TCU, which the Skiff has covered quite thoroughly.

All in all, 2005 is a bit of a mixed bag, but it has been fun.

Changing the schedule to cancel classes on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is one thing, but changing the weekly schedule to a four-day week will not happen, said Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic AffairsNowell Donovan."There are too many scheduling issues," Donovan said. "There's not enough time in one week and not enough room for that to be possible."

For the 2006 spring semester, there are approximately 460 classes held Fridays that would have to be rescheduled and incorporated into 80-minute Monday and Wednesday classes.

When Jennifer Klein graduated from TCU in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in English, she fought with her parents about her future."My parents were determined I would go to graduate school right away," she said. "I told them I couldn't go when I really had no idea at all what I wanted to study."

Klein, like other TCU students, was unsure of what to do with her future.

Tracy Williams, associate director of TCU Abroad, said after college graduation is when most students first have to really think about what they want with their lives.

Money for books and college fees was awarded to three staff members who received the 2006 General Staff Award in early November.The award provides $45 per semester hour to Kathryn Schruba, Niki Thrasher and Maria Puente.

"This is such a wonderful benefit for staff who are returning to school at TCU but need a little help with fees and cost of books," said Hao Tran, chairwoman of the Staff Assembly. "Past recipients of the award have gone on to receive their degrees, and I like to think that the staff scholarship did its part in helping them reach their goals."