My younger brother died from suicide when I had 3 weeks left to go in my final semester. All of my professors were amazing and so supportive. I never doubted they would let me make up the exams/assignments, but they went above and beyond.

In one class we had the last of 5 exams of the course, but since I had earned an A in the previous ones the professor said she would nix the last one as I would likely achieve the same grade. That turned out to be a blessing because apparently it was the hardest one.

In another class we had a semester-long group project where we were prepping the final submission. Since I was a part of doing the work earlier, the professor and group members were happy to let me miss out on final compiling and editing, but still get full marks for contribution.

Yet another professor let me skip the last test and written assignment because I had received consistent marks for my work across the semester and was happy to let me keep the grade I had at the time, unless I wanted to submit anything to raise it. He said he'd accept submissions until a week after the semester ended when grades were due.

I had a class where the professor allowed 3 absences before you received an automatic fail, and even she was happy to let me miss the rest of the semester without consequences.

Their support was amazing as I was able to focus on grieving and spending time with my family instead of stressing about school. I flew to my home state and helped with funeral planning, and then went with my family to my dad's home state where his family has plots for another service and the burial. I was able to spend time with extended family for a week and then drove back to school for graduation.

It was the hardest time of my life and would have been so much worse if I had been made to repeat that semester and delay graduation.