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Let’s face it, lectures are not for everyone. People learn in different ways, and for some people sitting and listening is not the way they learn best. Your first year and much of your second year of college consists of a lot of lecture style classes. Once you get into your major program that may change though. Have you ever gotten bored in one of these classes? Has your mind ever wandered during one of these classes? Have you fallen alseep durin one of these classes? If so, then lecture classes may not be the best learning enviornment for you. However, you still have to take these classes and actually learn the information.  The question is how will you get through these classes with decent grades? With a little creativity, you can get through it! Here are some suggestions to try out.

1. Make your notes colorful- Some people are more visual learners, and others need their brains to to switch thinking more often than others. Taking colorful notes could help out both of these kinds of students. Go to the store and grab a box of pens that come in a variety of different colors. When you are in class taking notes, change the color of pen you are using when the professor brings up different topic. This helps you stay focused on what is being said, because you have to make the connection that a new topic is being brought up. It also brings a change in the class to help your brain to make a switch, which can help you stay focused.
2. Make your doodles significant- Many students like to doodle when they are in class. I want you to know that there is nothing wrong with doodling as long as it isn’t distracting you from what your professor is saying. I like to doodle, and I remember when I was in middle school a teacher noticed that I was doodling random things onto my notes. She decided that she was going to catch me not being focused in front of the whole class by asking me a question over what she had just said. When she asked me the question I gave her the right answer. Surprised at this she told the class that she doesn’t mind if we were doodling as long as if we could answer questions over what she was teaching. It was great proving her that doodling wasn’t always a sign of not listening. If you can doodle random things and still retain the information from the teacher, then keep on doing what you are doing. It is a good chance that your doodling may be helping your listening skills. However, if you like to doodle but find that you are struggling in class you can still doodle I just have a different way you can do it. One way to doodle in class is make your doodles relevant to what is being taught. If you are learning about the war of 1812, then draw some soldiers battling and put the information around the picture. If you are learning about Pavlov in psychology class, draw a picture of his famous experiement. To get your doodles done, you have no choice but to listen to the information that is being presented to you. It also makes studying for exams more fun as you will literally be studying doodles and cartoons.
3. Feeling sleepy? Get some caffeine and sit up front!- Is there a class that you have a hard time staying awake in? I think most students can think of at least one class that they have had a hard time listening to, even staying awake in. What do you do? First of all, a little caffeine before class goes a long way. It doesn’t have to be soda or coffee though, a healthier option would be green tea. If it is a long class bring a little more of your coffee, pop, tea, or whatever you choose to get you through it. When in class sit at the front of the room. You will be less likely to let yourself fall alseep if your professor is standing right in front of you.
4. Try to do your reading before class for a change- I know that it is hard to get all the readings done for your classes, but you need to try to get as much read before class as possible. Usually the reading that the professors want you to have completed before the lecture is the content that they will be teaching that day. If you have a little understanding of the topic for the day, it makes the class a little more interesting. If you are totally pressed for time and you can’t get the reading done, at least skim the material. Even that can help you the next day in class.
5. If your professor puts material on Carmen, print it out and take it to class- If you have a professor that uploads the PowerPoints onto Carmen before it is taught in class, take some time to look through the material and print it out. Now all you have to do is add anything extra in your notes that your professor presents and highlight important points that are on your printed PowerPoint.

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That’s about all I got for right now. Do you have any specific ways that you get through lecture classes? Do those ways help you with your grades at all? If so, feel free to leave a comment! I would love to hear some feedback. Have a great week and continue to work hard, less than three weeks until finals! Good luck!

Best Wishes,

Christina Russell

Second Year Student

It’s a question that we have heard ever since our senior year of high school, and we will probably continue to hear until well past our college graduation… “What are you going to do with your life?” That is a lot to think about. Many of us go into college thinking that we have a plan only to watch it change ,many of us go in without a plan and form a plan while we are in school, and for a few others of us our plan stays consistent throughout college. What happens when our plans that we develop in college don’t work out in the real world? For example, I’m a middle childhood education major. What happens to me if I can’t find a teaching job right out of college and all of the substitute positions in the area do not pay enough or are not stable enough to support my family? What am I to do if things don’t go my way? Maybe you will spend a few years in your career, but realize you want to go a different route. One very important thing to know about your major is what kind of careers can you go into, especially alternative careers for specific majors.

One thing you need to know is what kind of skills are you obtaining from your major? You may not know of all the skills you will develop just from your freshman year, so this is something that you can research on or talk to upperclassmen in the same major. You might be surprised how many skills you will learn for your specific major that are good skills to have for a variety of different careers. I’ve done some research for my major and it helped me realize the skills I’m learning besides effective teaching like time management, leadership, problem solving skills, and one site even said bravery. Fortunately all of these skills can easily be implemented into other career choices. Take some time with this, you just might find out a few things about your major that you wouldn’t normally think of.

Once you know the skills that come with your major, how can you apply them to a back-up career plan? My first suggestion is to do a google search on alternative career options for _______ major. You can find many articles that already have great suggestions. For example, I know only a little about engineering but I know that many students go into that major. After just a five minute google search I learned that engineer majors develop skills like analytical thinking, creativity, laboratory skills, and teamwork skills. Many sites also mentioned good alternative careers for this major inlcuding sales engineers, technical writing, business, research, and IT only to name a few. When I did research on my major I learned that businesses, non-profit organizations, publishers, libraries, museums, and many more places will hire people with my degree because the skills that I have learned will be very handy for several positions in that field.

I highly suggest that you start thinking about a back-up plan very soon. Hopefully you will never have to use it, but it is better than being that college graduate still working a minimum wage job because you couldn’t find a job that directly relates to your degree. The more you know about your options, the better you can market yourself to potential employers. It will be worth it in the end, I promise.

Best Wishes,

Christina Russell

Second Year Student

Earlier this month I went to Columbus with some other students to a leadership conference. There we had the opportunity to attend different  workshops over many different topics and one of the workshops I attended was about taking care of yourself. It seems simple, but college students have a hard time staying physically and mentally healthy. For example, this is what I often look like…

It isn’t exactly a pretty sight. We tend to add a lot on our plates, and sometimes we put on more than we can handle. At the conference I attended, this was looked at as a cycle. First we get overwhelmed. Then we have bad thoughts, which gives us bad habits. After that we loose balance in our lives, which leads to more doubt and less connection. After that the cycle starts all over again.The question is, how do we get back on a healthy track? I’ve been asking that since I attended the workshop and I’ve come up with a few different suggestions…

Physically

These will be what you typically think of when trying to take care of yourself, it seems like everyone harps on them but sometimes it seems extremely hard to keep up with them. In fact when we allow ourselves to get too busy, our physical care is usually one of the first things to go.

1. Get plenty of sleep! I’ve stressed this before in a newsletter last semester. We’ve all been guilty of staying up way too late to study or get work done, but getting a good night of sleep will rejuvenate yourself for the next day. If you have more energy for the next day, you will be able to successfully get more things done during the day instead of dragging around at night.
2. Exercise. This isn’t the easiest thing to do when you are a college student. I have a hard time with it because I would rather use that time to do something else, like write a paper that is due this week or something like that. The thing about exercise is that it helps relieve stress on your body and considering that many college students are stressed,  it can be a great help to your attitude which reflects in your grades.
3. Eat Healthy. When you eat healthy, you feel better. Eating a bunch of unhealthy food makes us sluggish and who on earth wants to sit down and write a paper when you feel like dirt? It is as simple as that. Eating healthy seems hard when you are on a budget, but there are ways to work around that. For example, buy fresh fruits and veggies only when they are in season as that is when the produce is at its’ rock bottom price. You can also use coupons and buy products on sale. Recently when I went to buy some cereal I was able to buy the uber healthy cereal cheaper than its’ sugary counterpart. It was on sale (which already made it cheaper than the sugary stuff) and I had a coupon for it which made it even cheaper!

Mentally

Taking care of your mental needs are very important. You will send yourself down a downward spiral if you disregard those needs. Here are some different ways to make sure that those needs are met.

1. Meditation. Meditating is so good for you. It allows yourself to spend some time in solitude. It can be done in either a religious or non-religious manner, it doesn’t make a difference. What it does is allow the mind to relax. In class we are filling our brains with tons of information, that a mental break can be very good for all of us.
2. Take a little time out of each week to spend time to talk to others about your life. A great way to let stress out is by telling someone else about what is making you stressed out. There is a sort of relief when you do this because the issues are no longer just held inside you. Find a good friend that is a good listener and let it out, or if you don’t want to bring your issues up to your friends you can always make an appointment with Blake Wagner. He is our campus psychologist and he is happy to talk to you.
3. Just Relax! How many times have you taken a test and worried about your grade, only to find out a week later that you did better than you expected? I know I have and I can’t be the only one. Those little things that we worry about for no reason really put a lot of stress on. When you start to stress about  something that may or may not happen, take a time out and tell yourself “I have no control over this, whatever happens will happen. It’s o.k.”

For those of you that started classes in the fall, your first year is almost over. It’s hard to believe that we are in the last few weeks of this semester. Time sure has flown by. Finish the year off strong. I know that you can do it.

Best Wishes,

Christina Russell

Second Year Student

I can’t believe it, but spring break is just around the corner. This time next week we will NOT be on campus! Wooohooooo! I don’t know about all of you, but I am really excited for a break from classes. For me spring break means some time to relax. In a perfect world here is where I would relax…

1. Hang out with friends/family/loved ones: This is so simple. For many of us (myself included) we get so busy with school, work, and everything else that we just don’t spend as much time with those that we care about. Now is your chance, don’t miss it. You could host a get together at your house, or if you have a little more money to spend go out and have some fun with your friends. It really doesn’t matter what you are doing, as long as it is with ones you care about.
2. Read a fiction book: Bear with me on this one. I know the idea of reading makes college students cringe (I often do). It’s because we just have so much reading to do for our classes. I am a bookworm. I used to read several books a month for fun, but now when I get the chance to read I choose to do something I find more important (like sleep). At least a good book can mentally take you to another place.
3. Bubble Bath: What a better way to relax then a bubble bath? Nice hot water sounds good to me. Or if you or someone you know has a hot tub then go for that!
4. If you like the cold and snow and have a little cash on you, go snow tubing. We have a couple of ski resorts in the area with snow tubing, so check them out!
5. If you are dead set about getting as close to a tropical vacation as possible, Ohio does have many indoor water-park resorts. Many of them include a hotel, but you can also get day passes for under $50 at those resorts. The resorts are always warm and humid, with lazy rivers, hot tubs, and attractions galore. In Ohio it really is the closet we can get to the beach this time of the year.

I could keep on going with my list, but I know that if I did you all would get very very bored of this post. So I’m going to leave it as it is. If you have any good ideas for spring break in Ohio feel free to leave  comment. I’d like to hear other’s ideas as well.

Best Wishes,

Christina Russell

Second Year Student