Spring in East Lansing is a double-edged sword.

Actually, no, it’s an awesome time of year. However, the one downside is the futile effort of maintaining focus on homework and tests, while outside the sun is shining and the air is warm.

It seems like the first and last months of the school year require double the amount of concentration to complete even the simplest of academic tasks, or to even attempt them altogether.

Here’s a thought that would make your GPA cringe in fear: What if it were warm all year long?

Yes, it seems impossible, but there are places where the weather isn’t subzero half of the year.

Could you imagine if we all went to Arizona State University or the University of Southern California? Forget studying — most of us would be spending all our time surfing or sunbathing.

But in East Lansing, it is a daily routine in the cold months to gripe about the weather. Phrases like ‘Why do I go to school in Michigan?’ and ‘I should have gone down south for college’ are among the ones I hear most often.

But if there were ever a way to twist the negative aspects of the brutal winter season into benefits, consider the difficulty of maintaining focus toward schoolwork as the sunny days return to campus.

It’s much easier to study for exams and write essays when you look out the window and see nothing but blizzarding snow and ice.

I’m still baffled as to how students down south manage to deal with the consistently nice weather.

I can only speak for myself, but if I were enrolled at a university where the weather was more than 70 degrees for the majority of the year, my grades would probably sacrifice themselves for a tan.

We’re all so lucky we don’t have to face this kind of mental battle all year long. Okay, maybe not. But it really could help out in the long run.

With approximately five months without legitimate distraction from weather, it’s easy to make the argument that going to a school with unpleasant weather for part of the year helps to legitimately keep students more focused.

Although, that kind of argument might drive students away from a school like MSU altogether. Because sacrificing good weather for better focus isn’t the easiest decision to make.

So, with all of that in mind, it is certainly unfortunate timing that final exams come in the first week of May. It’s arguably one of the best weeks of the year, weather-wise, during both the fall and spring semesters.

Students are going to be tested not only by exams, but by all the distractions that come with the suddenly beautiful weather in East Lansing.

But then again, there’s no justifiable scenario to complain about the impending warm weather. So, try to do your best to keep your GPA up as temperatures do the same thing.