It’s safe to say it’s been a busy semester for everyone on this campus. Administrators, the legislators who run the state, coaches, professors and students have all had their hands full with more than just school work.

By the end of a semester and the end of the calendar year, goals and needs tend to be put to the side when what seems like more pressing measures come forth. During the finals grind, it can be hard to put the events of a semester in perspective.

But even though the focus is on the end of the term, we should all take this as a time to reflect on everything that has happened over the year and our hopes and resolutions for the next one.

The Daily Illini Editorial board has seen what the people of this University have been through over the past few months, and we have our own set of hopes for the coming year.

We hope that in the coming week, students do well on their finals and don’t stress-eat their weight in donuts and other such comfort foods. If they do it anyway, ideally this food will actually calm their nerves and not just feed into the self-loathing brought on by last minute studying.

We hope that our professors and teaching assistants don’t get bombarded with desperate emails to round up their students’ grades at the last moment. When they inevitably get these emails, hopefully those emails are not sassy, but instead are understanding and thankful.

We hope that everyone traveling out of Champaign for the break will have safe travels. Regardless if students are on their way to Rantoul or Beijing, we hope the traffic is manageable and the journey is safe. May the person next to you on the bus or plane not fall asleep on you and you remember your headphones.

We hope that in the coming months, our University can hire qualified, passionate administrators who are dedicated to the students and mission of the school. Stability moving forward is essential for making positive changes. Although the interim members are doing the best they can, having permanent hires will give the University a chance to make long-term plans.

We hope that all students, regardless of the race, religion and gender, come back to school next semester and feel safe going to class, sitting at home, socializing and living their life. College should be a time for learning and finding out what it means to be who you are, which can’t be accomplished when living in fear.

We hope that members of the University community can have conversations driven by acceptance and understanding. Through mutual love and respect, we hope to see productive conversations about the issues our friends, classmates and professors struggle with every day.

Ultimately, we hope that we remember these dreams when times are inevitably tough in the future, and work together as a campus to make our community and ourselves better.