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February 5, 2024

The school year is right around the corner. As you prepare with the necessary items to live comfortably in your new home, you must also mentally prepare. Part of college is the mental rigor of wearing your critical thinking cap the majority of the time. For you to have to a relatively successful transition from summertime to academia, there ae a few things that will help make the transition an easy one.

1. Go to bed at a decent hour. You will want to start weaning yourself from the super late-night schedule you have developed in the summer. It may be a challenge to get in the bed at 10p, but you will soon see the difference when you are alert and energized while your peers struggle to get through the day.

2. Eat healthier. A healthy and balanced diet will also help your body run on good fuel and not be weighed down by the bad stuff.

3. Start reading. If you have a reading list, start early especially if reading is not your thing. This will help alleviate some of the reading load that you have. It also helps with retaining information and better understanding the material.

4. Purchase supplies. If you have your supply list, you should begin the procure items and books as soon as you can. The earlier you tackle the list, the better your chances to purchase used books of the best quality, supplies before they run out, and confirm you have everything prior to class starting.

Getting into a routine that somewhat mimics your class schedule with aid in the transition once your schedule begins. Developing the habit of sleeping 8 hours each day, waking up to shower, eating balanced meals, heading to work, reading, studying, and balancing social interactions will help your transition. Too much or not enough of any of these things could contribute to your ability to successfully navigate through the semester. Lastly, creating these habits early will help with a strong start will require little adjustments when the semester begins. It is a good practice to repeat this before the beginning of each semester. Establishing a routine prior to the beginning of each semester will prove to be invaluable as you navigate your way through the semester.

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Campuses are relatively safe places, with people usually around at all hours throughout the day and night. There are cameras, campus courtesy officers, and some campuses even have their own police department. Safety concerns, however, persist due to the easy access to campuses. Most doors remain unlocked throughout the day and do not require anything for access, making it easy for anyone to blend in with the student population. As a response to these concerns, many campuses have implemented emergency system installations to enhance security measures. Below also are a few tips to help keep you aware of your safety while on campus.

1.       Save important phone numbers in your phone and ensure you have them saved wit quick access.

a.       Add Campus Security/Police.

b.       Add your Residence Hall Emergency Phone.

c.       Add your Resident Assistant.

2.       Adopt the Buddy System.  Try to avoid walking alone especially at night.  Going across campus to the library late at night, take a friend with you, meet up and go together.  Don’t have any friends to go with you?  Utilize your campus resources. 

a.       You have officers available to provide an escort with a simple call.

b.       Take the shuttle instead of walking.

c.       Research student groups and other resources on campus that provide services and focus on campus safety.

3.       Party Smart. 

a.       This is where having a buddy is extremely important. Go together, stay together, and leave together.

b.       Never leave your drink unattended and do not take a drink that is already open (or that you did not see being poured or accept from someone you don’t know.

c.       If you suspect trouble leave.

d.       Be aware of where you are and who you are with.

4.       See something, Say something.  If you notice something that appears to be out of the ordinary, if something seems off, or if there is danger call for help immediately.  It won’t hurt to have the campus officers check on things. 

5.       Be aware of your surroundings. Ensure you are paying attention to what is going on around you is extremely important.  Avoid texting while walking, play music on low or only use one ear bud. Be attentive and take time to see who is around you and what is happening.

6.       If you have a car, ensure it is safe and secure as well.

a.       Do not leave ANY personal items in plain sight. Thieves see value in anything they can exchange money, this includes textbooks, electronics, and other personal items.

b.       Lock your doors.  Leaving your doors unlocked or your windows cracked is an invitation for a thief to help themselves.

c.       Be aware of your surroundings.  Check the car before entering, look around to notice any lurkers, and look for anything that may be suspicious.

7.       Know safe places on campus.  Regardless of your location on campus, know your surroundings.  Actively preparing for the following scenarios will allow you to stay calm and think clearly during the situation.  Identify the closest exit or place of refuge and ways you can protect yourself in the following situations:

a.       Earthquake

b.       Tornado

c.       Hurricane

d.       Flooding

e.       Active Shooter

 

Safety cannot be guaranteed, but following these tips will assist as you navigate on campus.

It is the second semester of your senior year and it is time to ensure you have things in place to be successfully admitted to a university this fall.  If you have not already applied for a university, now is the time to complete the process and below are a few tips to assist you in the application process.

1.        Be organized.  Take the time to create a file, get a notebook, or organize information on your computer. Being organized will help you to easily identify materials needed for each application and reference when needed.

2.       Know your deadlines.  In your planner, on your phone, or put on the calendar; whatever your system may be, just ensure you know the dates.  Once you know the deadlines, create new deadlines that occur 2-4 weeks prior to the actual deadline. If something could go wrong, it most definitely will when you wait until the actual deadline.  You are asking for your application to get lost in the mail, miss the postmarked deadline, or not allot enough time for your recommendation letter to be received, if you do not allow time for any possible mistakes. Give yourself plenty of time to complete the application requirements, but also leave room for error.

3.       Read the instructions carefully. Yes; almost all universities will require you to undergo a similar process to be considered for enrollment. However, each application will request the information in a different way. 

Be sure to read the information very carefully and ensure you are providing the exact information that is being requested. When your application is reviewed for admission consideration, if you have an incomplete application, do not address the essay question as listed, and do not include all requested documents, your application could be denied.

The application process can be extremely competitive, you don’t want to give the reviewers a reason to throw your application out of the pool.  Complete all sections, include all accompaniments, and thoroughly respond to the essay question.  

4.        Proofread EVERTHING! Take your time and complete your entire application and essay.  Walk away from it! Yes; walk away and come back in 24 hours. Using your fresh eyes, now review all the information you have completed on the application including your name, address, and essay.  Again, you do not want to give the reviewers any reason to disregard your application.  A simple spelling mistake could have an impact on your application.

5.       Gather necessary documents. A complete application will take some time to complete.  You will need the following for your application to be completed:

a.       Thorough responses to all parts of the application.  Ensure each area requesting information is completed.

b.       A well-developed essay. Take your time to develop your main idea, supporting information, and conclusion that ties everything together.  Be sure to answer the question that the application is specifically requesting.  Recruit a second pair of eyes to proofread and provide feedback.

c.       Minimum of three letters of recommendation.  Make sure you formally and personally ask each recommender.  They may require a resume, a list of your awards, and to know more about your career goals.

d.       Proof of income. You will need to work with your parents to secure the requested documents that provide proof of your household income.

e.       Obtain your transcript.  You will need official copies of your transcript. Copies will cost you per copy and require that your account is clear of any other outstanding charges. 

 

Follow these steps and watch the decision letters welcoming you to your new university roll in.  Good luck in the application process.

The summer is winding down and it is almost time to head to school. You’re almost ready, but before you leave for school, you want to ensure you have all of the necessary “tools” to be successful.  As you embark the new chapter in your life titled college, do not become overwhelmed anxiety.  Small bouts of anxiety are normal and using the helpful tips below will hopefully allow you to ease the anxiety and transition smoothly. Below can assist you in creating your checklist regarding the things you need to complete prior to your arrival will help with the transition.

  1. Confirm your orientation.  You will need to know what day you will need to arrive.  Haven’t received orientation information? Giving the Admissions office a call and confirm date, time, and location.  You will also need to confirm is the orientation all day, overnight, and if there is anything you need to bring. Be ready as you could do everything from tor the campus, to selecting courses for the semester, to complete all financial aid documents.
  2. Confirm your housing. At this point you should know where you are living.  If you don’t know at this point, give Residence Life a call and see if your application was received, if you have a placement, and if they know your assigned roommate.
  3. Get to know your roommate.  Most institutions will send your housing assignment with contact information for your new roommate.  Utilize the information, reach out to them and start to build the relationship early.  Become friends on social media, determine a shopping list for your new space.  You don’t want to both show up with two microwaves, fridges, and vacuums.
  4. Start gathering your belongings.  In your housing welcome packet there should be a list of suggested items for you to consider. You can also find lists with a quick Google search. You will be surprised how many items you have when you begin to gather everything.  Start early and gather a small piece at a time, start with books, kitchen items, food, and end with your clothes. Believe it or not, you don’t have to take everything you own with you.  You will be back in 4 months (maybe sooner if your university offers a Fall Break) and you can exchange items and grab things you may need.
  5. Get supplies.  In addition to your usual notebooks and pens, you will need additional supplies as you prepare for school.  Consider laptops/tablets, what device will work best for you? You will have term papers to write, PowerPoint presentations to create, and research to complete. How will you accomplish these task and what tool will be the best to help you accomplish the task? Also, know the tools of your major are you an art student, are you an athlete, are you in theater? Consider the tools special to your trade.
  6. Save as much money as you can.  You will need money for many items such as textbooks that can range anywhere from $50-$200 each for your 6-8 classes. Although you will most likely have a meal plan, you will need food for after-hours meals. You will need to shop for essentials for your room; think shower caddy, lamp, bathrobe, and much more. In general, you will want money just to have in the event you and your new friends decide to go on a coffee run, grab a movie, or hit the popular diner down the street.
  7. Consider transportation.  How will you get to school? Once you arrive, will you need to get around? Some campuses are a brisk five-minute walk, while other require a more calculated transit. If you do bring your car, where will you park it? These are all things that you need to consider when considering if a car will be needed.
  8. Say your goodbyes.  There will never be enough time and this next chapter in your life will move at lightening speeds. Speed time with your grandparents, close friends going to other universities, little siblings, and most of all your parents.  Your transition to college not only affects you, but everyone that has regular contact with you. Do your best to spread your time among family, work, and friends before you leave.

Take time to create your “Off to School Checklist”. The checklist will keep you mindful of the items you need to complete prior to your departure.  Use your resources to ensure you are well-equipped and prepared for this next step in your life. Talk to older siblings, review information provided by the university, read the Freshmen Survival Guide, and use search the internet for other resources available. After you complete this checklist you WILL be ready!

ira service

Summertime is the best time to complete service in the community.  There are a number of things that you can do to gain volunteer hours and help your community at the same time.  Below are 10 possible ides for ways you can give back this summer.

  1. Assist with a community garden. Gardening is a big trend and a lot of people and organizations are making the choice to grow their own and provide more organic options.
  2. Help at a local homeless shelter. There are a variety of options for families, just children, just women, and just men. Find a shelter that speaks to your desire to assist.
  3. Support a good cause.  Many organizations will host summer events such a races, carnivals, awards banquets, and more outreach events. Find a cause that is near to you and see what they have on the calendar.
  4. Donate time and supplies to a local camp.  Summer camps run throughout the entire summer and can be found everywhere from local churches to YMCAs.
  5. Clean a park/playground.  Find a park or playground that needs some attention.  Now find the organization responsible for the upkeep and find out how you can help. Even picking up trash could make the difference for the animals and children.
  6. Go abroad. Find a mission trip to be a part of and assist those in other countries.
  7. Build a house.  Habitat for Humanity and similar organizations will work to build or repair existing houses for those in need.
  8. Play with puppies.  Animal shelters need your special skills to play with animals awaiting adoption.
  9. Support a Food Bank. Lend a hand at a local bank to help organize and package items accordingly.
  10. Create your own project. Examine your passions, community, and issues affecting you or your family.

This list will hopefully jumpstart ideas within you that will stir some excitement in giving back. Once you have identified how you would like to give back, now you have to determine how to get involved.

There are a number of ways to research ways to get involved.  You can scour the internet using a variety of search terms based on your topic of choice. Get creative and don’t just search for volunteer opportunities in my city.  You may have to do some cold calling to organizations in your area of interest and let them know who you are, what you want to do, and how you could be of service to them.

You may have to step away from the computer and conduct your search in person. Smaller and start-up nonprofit organizations may not have big robust websites.  However, they usually have an office and you showing up in person could provide you with a better opportunity to landing the volunteer opportunity.

Lastly, get out into your community.  Look at local newspapers, go to local community centers, visit town hall meetings, reach out to local fraternity and sororities to find out how to get involved.  You can often see posters or ask local librarians or community center directors about upcoming opportunities, projects that organizations are working on, and ways you can get involved.

If you cannot find the project you are looking for, consider starting your own.  Develop a name, come up with a mission, and fundraise to help achieve your goals. Start off simple and small and allow the project to grow organically.

Be prepared that you may have to go through an interview process or you may just get thrown into the project.  Expect and be prepared for both. You should ace the interview by knowing a little bit about the organization, their mission, and how your skills, passion, and education can benefit the mission.  You should treat this experience like a real job; interview seriously, work hard, and be professional.  At the end of the experience, be sure to ask for a letter of recommendation or a document indicating how many hours you completed and your responsibilities.  Keep this information handy as it could be useful when you want to apply for scholarships, jobs, and future volunteer experiences.  It is important to get the information on paper right after the experience versus two years later, when people that were around when you volunteered are no longer able to assist.

Find some time this summer to give back in at least one way.  Use your social media to track the event and to hopefully inspire others to get involved.

The summer is here and it provides the greatest opportunity to complete an internship.  What better time of the year will you be able to take 20, 30, or 40 hours than the summer? This will allow you time to get some hands on experience in your future career field.  Some internships can be paid, while others are for the benefit of gaining new knowledge.  Some internships are for a short period of time (1 week) up to the entire summer (3 months). Some internships result in job offers, while others produce letters of recommendation.

How well you perform during an internship depends on your performance from day one. Below are 8 tips on how to be successful during your internship.

  1. Dress for success.  Each day you should come dressed for the position you hope they offer you full-time. Take time to give attention into your appearance:
    1. Press your clothes each day.
    2. Stay away from trends and pick more classic looks when making fashion choices.
    3. Stick to natural hair colors. If you have natural dreadlocks, you should use the right haircare products like the ones offered by Lion Locs.
    4. Avoid bright nail colors and distracting nail lengths. Go to the salon for biab removal if you still have bright nail colors on.
  2. Arrive on time each day.  On time is to arrive 15 minutes early. Prepare for the unexpected during your commute.
  3. Do your research. Learn as much as you can before and during your research. If there is something you do not know, look it up. Ask questions and take notes on new information you obtain.
  4. Ask how you can help.  Part of you obtaining the internship is to learn, but the other part of you being there is to help out around the office.  You should be able to help with projects, clean-up around the office, and lighten the load for the staff.
  5. Be thorough in all that you do.  When working on projects, be sure to cross every “t” and dot every “i”.  Follow-up on projects and complete projects in their entirety.
  6. Leave the drama at home.  Do not bring drama to the office.  If you are having personal problems, you should try to not allow it spill out at the internship. Workers are filing a hostile workplace complaint when discrimination is present in the workplace. You want people to get to know you, your knowledge, and your skillset, but you do not want them to know about the fight you had last night with your partner.
  7. Avoid your cellphone and social media. You should avoid mobile devices unless directly associated the internship.
  8. Bring a positive confident attitude each day.  Come to the internship each day confident and positive about the experience, the day, and each task that is given to you.
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Parenting comes with a certain level of expected hovering. How do you determine how much is too much?  Legally at the age of 18 you are an adult, but in the eyes of your parents you are still their little child that needs them to help solve problems and care from them.  This notion will not just cease, because you go off to college. Parents will have a certain level of involvement in your college career.  They want to ensure you are on track, completing the things you need to do, and ultimately are successful.  Getting to their definition of success may involve more of them than you would like, but you will have to learn how to balance showing your responsibility and respect for all your parents do with gratitude for all they have (and will) done. Below are some do’s and don’t’s for monitoring your parents’ involvement in your college life.

1.      Do let them know how you are doing in class.  Share hardships and successes; don’t let grades be a surprise.  If you are keeping them in the loop along the way, they will understand and celebrate your achievements.

2.      Do share when you face adversity; share it with your parents.  Use them as a sounding board, but don’t let them handle the situation.

3.      Do let your parent know when you have done ALL that you can to resolve a situation.  Don’t let them believe you have done ALL you can do when you have not.

4.      Do tell them the whole truth. Don’t send them to resolve an issue with only half truths.

5.      Do let your parents know you appreciate their support.  Don’t assume they know you care.

6.      Do find new ways of thinking and viewpoints on life.  Don’t let their antiquated ways of thinking blur your path.

7.      Do communicate regularly with your parents. Don’t disappear by not returning calls, changing plans without giving them an update, or not coming home as scheduled.

Having an engaged parent can be very helpful as you navigate through college.  However, having an overly engaged parent hoovering over issues, calling the staff for every minor issue, escalating issues out of the hierarchy order, and showing up to the university frequently.  You want to take on a certain level of responsibility for your success in school, you do not want your parents to resolve issues or guide you through college.  Part of college is leaving not being the same person as when you started.  So take some of the responsibility off of your parents and show your ability to resolve issues and succeed.

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Happy New Year!!!!

It is a new year, which means a new semester and a new set of goals.  Before you begin to form your list of new goals, you must reflect on the goals from last semester. Take a look at the short and long term goals you created last semester. How did you do?  Did you accomplish everything on your list?  Did you surpass what you set out to do? Let’s take stock of what you have accomplished (and did not accomplish).  Look at what you were able to do! Congratulate and reward yourself for a job well done.  Look at the factors that affected why you were able to accomplish the goals.  What formula did you have in place that allowed you to succeed? How can you apply that formula to the new set of goals for yourself? 

 

At the same time, reflect on the goals you were unable to achieve, hold yourself accountable for the goals that you did not obtain.  Now is not the time to beat yourself for not achieving your goals. This is where you evaluate the goal(s) you did not accomplish and discover why they were not achieved.  Were there factors within your control? Were there uncontrollable factors? Did you almost meet the goal?  Look at all of the factors associated with each missed goal.  A missed goal does not mean the goal is lost forever.  It could just be bad timing or the lack of balance.  Pinpointing the reason why the goal was not accomplished will help to decipher if the goal is lost or should be revisited.  If it is salvageable, add the goal to the list of goals for the new semester. If the goal is not salvageable, evaluate all of the reasons why you were unable to accomplish the goal and try to prevent those factors from reoccurring.

After evaluating your goals, reflect on how you would do things differently.  Did your goals challenge you, did they push you to the next level of your (personal, professional, academic, financial) life, did you accomplish your goals to fast? Ask yourself these things and gear up for the new semester.  Make a list of the things you would like to accomplish this semester. Divide the list into short term and long term goals; indicating items you would like to accomplish at the beginning of the semester, items by the midpoint, and items to complete by the end of the semester. Ensure there is variety within your goals and you take a holistic approach to your goal setting.  Becoming stronger and more competent in one area of your life will not help you most in the long run.  You want to ensure you are developing and balancing all aspects of your life. Focus on your personal growth (spiritual, social, physical, financial), as well as, your professional growth (academics, experience, and skillsets).

Goal setting can be challenging especially if you are coming off a semester where you did not accomplish all you hoped.  Try to look at goals as small pictures that will come together to achieve one big picture. Accomplishing the small goals, step-by-step will help you to tackle the bigger goals piece-by-piece.  Instead of saying you want to lose 50lbs; try saying you want to lose 4lbs a month.  Instead of saying you want to earn an “A” in Molecular Biology, try focusing on earning an “A” one assignment at a time. Instead of saying you want to make new friends, try one new activity a month. Each of the smaller goals are a part of the bigger picture and as you accomplish the smaller goals they will propel you towards the bigger goal.