My ENR Scholars Saplings Mentor Meeting went over academics, involvement, ENR Scholars, careers, and general advice. My mentor, Doug, is majoring in Forestry, Fisheries, and Wildlife in the School of Environment and Natural Resources, so we have a lot in common academically. As we have gotten to know each other over the past couple of months, we now know that we have similar personal lives. It was really nice to discuss college life with someone who has close to the same interests and experiences. Our understanding of each other made it easier to connect and give advice during our meeting.
Academically, we discussed the struggle to find balance as well as confidence in our academic abilities. To find a balance between academics and personal life, Doug recommended finding ways to cope with stress, making sure to get sleep, and not prioritizing your academics over your health. This is something I struggle with regularly, and I am continuing to figure out the best ways to monitor my wellness. In finding confidence in our academic abilities, we talked about our experiences with procrastination. I tend to procrastinate when I am overwhelmed which is completely counterintuitive to striving for academic success. Doug does the same thing which was comforting for me to hear. To fight against procrastination breaking down a situation and taking it one step at a time can help a lot to make the task not as daunting.
Doug’s main piece of advice for involvement was to not be too involved. He said it is good to do things you are passionate about but you want to be able to do those things well and to do this you can’t spread yourself too thin. The most important aspect of this advice is to know your limits. I am still trying to figure this out by slowly adding commitments to my life instead of all at once. The topic of involvement in the university led to discussing social life involvement. My involvement in my social life and academic life is particularly difficult for me to find balance in. Because of ENR Scholars, I have found a very close friend group that has helped me find more balance and I am very grateful that I have their support. I know that even though I get distracted from my school work because of my social life at times, I have a group of friends that would help me work through rough moments, refocus, and create memories with.
The ENR Scholars has not only been a way for me to connect with my peers and make good friendships, but it has become a community that is essential to both Doug and I’s lives. Doug had many great things to say about our ENR Scholars group and I could not agree more. He advised to continue with scholars and give it time and effort because it is a community that cares greatly for each member. The ENR Scholars provides great opportunities and resources to help develop students as individuals, and I am very excited to continue my involvement in the coming years.
While talking about the topic of resources we began to talk about our careers. The School of Environment and Natural Resources cares a lot about their student’s success, and Doug strongly expressed this. The ability to have a career advisor who can walk through your career goals with you in relation to your academic degree is also very helpful. Both Doug and I have utilized career advising and have found it to be very helpful in putting our lives into focus while pursuing our degrees.
Some general advice that was offered, which I found to be some of the most helpful from our meeting, was to take care of your health mentally and physically, not be afraid to reach out for help, and know that struggles make us stronger. I really valued our openness as we both shared some of our hardships in the past months and year. It helped me realize that no matter your age or year in college, we all need readjustments and help to reassess our lives sometimes. I enjoyed the Saplings Mentor Meeting with Doug and plan to work to continue to improve my life as I adapt to college life one step at a time.