10 Positive Affirmations for Finals Week

Posted on May 9, 2022

Hey Hawkeyes! It is almost the most stressful week of the semester, so take a few minutes to remind yourself:

1. You can get through this, you have before.
2. You are worthy enough for everything you are working towards.
3. You can accomplish all you are preparing for.
4. Everything works out in the end, even with bumps in the road.
5. Look at how much you have done so far, you are doing great!
6. It is almost summer, full of nice weather and free time.
7. Everything you do is noticed and appreciated by those around you.
8. You always have time for self-care.
9. You are resilient.
10. You can keep your head up, there is always a bright side at the end of this. You will get through it!

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Finding Balance In Busy Times

Posted on May 2, 2022

With exam season present, finals approaching, summer imminent, move-out soon, work shifts never-ending, and those random to-do tasks all on one’s mind, how does one do it all?

I am used to staying busy, but now more than ever I have been feeling the real pressure of college life and finding balance. As the semester comes to a close, I have been asked to do more in classes and for work, but I also have personal tasks to plan for moving out and the summer. I am staying sane by living and attending by the following:

• Make a to-do list, but not in a particular order
  • Obviously, it is important to prioritize deadlines or at least keep them in mind, but for the rest of your to-do list that just has to get done, don’t force an order.
  • Keeping yourself a strict to-do list order-wise comes with the caveat that you may not want to do a particular task at the time you told yourself you have to. If you force yourself to do a task in a moment you don’t want to, you are not being as productive as you could be, therefore are wasting time. Do what feels right at the moment, it will help maintain your energy.
• Wake up early, sleep when needed
  • Waking up early is energizing for most people (yes you can get coffee to help with that). This will remind you you have a fresh start and have the whole day ahead of you to accomplish endless things!
  • However, waking up early can come with some afternoon sleepiness. Take a power nap! Something short and getting up with your alarm will give you a break while doing something re-energizing so you are not dragging through the rest of your day and tasks.
• Get moving
  • Have a full-blown workout or a brief walk. Either way, plowing through a to-do list needs a break that is not a task and outcome-oriented at a desk. Use this as an opportunity to rejuvenate.
• Treat yourself and don’t postpone rewards as targets
  • Get your coffee to get you through the day, take the nap when you need it, get food at mealtimes, and go on a walk when you need a break.
  • Rewarding yourself at the time you need a reward or comfort is much better than pushing through a task to get to a reward because you maintain the energy you need to get through the tasks you have at hand. If you are miserable while doing your tasks and pushing yourself to reach a goal before the reward, what is the reward recharging you for? Use the reward with the intent to keep you going rather than marking a finish line
• Sometimes set goals
  • With a never-ending to-do list, it is important to set a goal of what you want to get done in a day so you are making your way through tasks rather than just adding to the list
  • It is okay not to meet these goals to get a massive load of things done, you are making progress either way.
• Be opportunistic
  • Your friend asked you to go to lunch or dinner? There is an event you want to go to on-campus? Go!
  • Along the same lines of feeling re-energized, you can’t sit at your desk all day and plow through a to-do list. You still are in college and are looking at some one-time experiences. Have fun between tasks, you have time for a break.
• Think of positive affirmations
  • You are doing so much, it is important to focus on the good things and remind yourself of how much you have accomplished when it is so easy to think of the negative things regarding the stress you are under.
  • Validate your own feelings, but look at the bright side. There is always one! For example, the semester is almost over and the weather is getting nicer.
• Talk to people
  • When I’m stressed I have a tendency to shut myself in and work until I feel accomplished. I realized how unhealthy this is, and started calling my family back home to catch up. Not only does this provide a healthy break from being busy, but it provides comfort in hearing that stress is validated by those you love and everything is alright with them.
• Plan for the future
  • As stressful as the present is, something always seems to come up at the most inconvenient times to prevent me from studying when I want to, packing my room for move out, finishing an assignment, and more. It helps to start even things in the distant future early in case this happens (start studying for finals even just a bit). If nothing happens, you will have some well-deserved free time!

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A Weekend (Outside) of the University of Iowa

Posted on April 14, 2022

Hello Hawkeyes, I recently had a weekend trip from the University of Iowa to St. Louis, Missouri. I wanted to share with you how you can take a weekend getaway from college, how I juggled this as a student, and of course, take you along for the story of what I did!

You went to St.Louis for a college-related trip? Can I do that? How?

Yes, I went to St.Louis with a student organization sponsored by the University of Iowa. I am a part of Alpha Phi Omega at the University of Iowa and as a service group, we traveled to do some community service.

You can travel (college-related) in a multitude of ways at the University of Iowa, not just with the student organization I am affiliated with, but also independently!

• For anyone: join a student organization you feel a passion towards. Many organizations either take weekend trips such as this or send members across the state, country, or world to attend conferences and represent the University of Iowa’s student organizations. Find your passion here and send an email to the organization and ask how they represent themselves on a broader scale.
• For anyone: if you want a long-term trip, study abroad, or volunteer abroad during the normal academic year or the summer. Studying abroad takes lots of planning academically and financially. Start getting an idea of what your experience may look like by visiting this page. Ask a UIowa academic advisor or meet with the International Programs Office to learn some of the first steps of the study abroad process to see if it is a good fit for you! Volunteering abroad I do not believe can count for academic credit (but it can count as experiential learning for honors students) and is typically done through a third-party company. Both of these experiences have grants and scholarships available for this purpose.
• For honors students: travel with a purpose for your required experiential learning. There are grants and scholarships available for this.

How did you juggle being a full-time college student and preparing to take a 3-4 day weekend off?

Lots of planning was involved in this trip just to make sure I was still on top of my school work. I divided my normal Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday assignments and quizzes to be completed a couple of days early so I wouldn’t have to juggle schoolwork on the road or risk the work not getting completed and my grades being a sacrifice.

It was hard doing extra work on an already full day, but it was most definitely worth it to be able to take a complete break from school for a couple days. It was good for my mental health to be worry-free too!

Of course, it is important not to just be a work-a-holic a couple of days before the trip, breaks are needed. For me, I found joy in packing for the trip, such as picking out clothes to wear. My breaks from my school work consisted of packing and cleaning because of this.

Most importantly, what did you do on your trip?

As mentioned before, I took this trip with a service organization, meaning with did a lot of community service around St. Louis. We also did a lot of fellowship or bonding!

Day 1

• Drive to St. Louis
• Go get dinner with fellow members
• Settle in (I was bunkmates with my “little”)
• Stay up late playing lots of board games and just talking

Day 2

• Volunteer at the church we were staying at (we helped remodel)
  • I along with some other members painted a common room
  • Some volunteers did some heavy lifting and moved furniture to a new position in the church
  • Some volunteers made the outside of the church feel more inviting by doing some gardening
• Use some free time to get lunch and take a walk around St.Louis
• Volunteer at Annie Malone, a children and family services center
  • Some furniture moving was completed again
  • Lots of deep cleaning
  • I helped, along with others, in sifting through and organizing donations
• Use your free time to visit the arch (of course we took pictures)
• Go get dinner at a fun restaurant downtown
• Ride electric scooters back to our place of stay
• Play games and talk late into the night

Day 3

• Volunteer at Gateway Pet Guardians, an animal welfare shelter and resource center
  • Did lots of organizing of donated items as well as clean-up of the property and storage spaces
  • Got to play with some lovely animals (meet Olive! I wish I could have taken her home she was so sweet)
  • Got lunch and packed up our place of stay
  • Loaded up cars to head home
  • Got some coffee and ice cream for the road
  • Headed back to Iowa City

Overall, I had a blast going on this weekend service trip with my organization. It was a great break from school and I got to bond with a lot of my organizations’ members (new and old) as well as some members I have not had a chance to talk one-on-one to! I can’t wait to see some stories about where you went next!

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Room Tour at the University of Iowa

Posted on April 5, 2022

Hi Hawkeyes! Looking for somewhere to live next year? Check out Burge Residence Hall:

 

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Lets Talk: Honors Pro-Staff and Experiential Learning

Posted on April 1, 2022

Are you academically inclined with an interest to really get involved with what you love? Consider applying to the University’s Honors Program! Out of the endless possibilities and numerous benefits of this program, meeting with the honors pro-staff is probably one of the best yet most under-rated of these experiences. Honors pro-staff can help you to and through the requirements of being in the honors program and through the commonly feared (although it shouldn’t be) experiential learning!

I have been a part of this program since I was an incoming freshman, and you can find the requirements here once you are a part of the program, but I have really only taken a shallow dive into the honors experience until this past year when I met with and was taught by the honors pro-staff.

What is honors pro-staff?

Honors pro-staff is a team that works closely with and for university honors students. With jobs ranging from director of the program to specific branch coordinators, everyone works to enhance the honors student experience and their learning outcomes. Currently honors pro-staff consists of a director, associate director, program coordinator, scholarship specialist, project coordinator, experiential learning specialist, advising director, assessment manager, and admissions coordinator. You can find these current roles and those within them here.

How do you meet with honors pro-staff?

You can email honors pro-staff directly to set up a scheduled time for a meeting, go to their listed office hours, or if you are currently an honors student, some have appointments available to be scheduled with you on MyUI.

Honestly, though, I think I have had more impromptu meetings with pro-staff rather than scheduled ones. If you find yourself in the honors building on campus, Blank Honors Center, the majority of offices are on the floor of my favorite study spot (4th Floor Nelson Activity Room). I run into pro-staff in the hallways, their door is often open for those to stop by quickly, and I have even run into pro-staff at university events.

Often times pro-staff is around campus doing outreach as well. I have had the director of the honors program and the advising director come to my (honors) class and talk about opportunities within the honors program. The associate director of the honors program was even my professor for a semester!

What was your experience with meeting honors pro-staff?

I have had a few sit-downs and scheduled meetings with honors staff. The most recent of which, with the new experiential learning specialist, was extremely helpful. I came in for the meeting initially to figure out what paperwork I had to do to get my current experiential learning on file and figure out what was already on file. Within minutes, a spreadsheet was pulled up that had all of my questions answered for me. Not only was this fast and efficient, but I got to talk to this member of the pro-staff in a one-on-one format. We talked about current experiential learning experiences, and I learned that I was making too much work for myself and could fill out one form rather than the seven I was originally trying to do. This was something I would have never realized if I didn’t just begin with a genuine conversation with the pro-staff allowing her to get to know me and for me to get to know her. We even were able to bounce some ideas off of each other for future endeavors!

Of the more frequent connections with the honors, pro-staff was my experience with the associate director of the honors program being my professor. This was a class that had an application process, so unfortunately you can’t just sign up. However, as an honors student, you can apply by filling out the honors scholarship portal as an admitted student to the honors program. Here again, a connection was made where the associate director, myself, and other students were able to talk not only about learning but specifically about civic and community service and the aspects of learning within those fields, and how to get involved. I found this as a perfect opportunity to not only share the progress of experiential learning but also soak in how to make an effect with the experiential learning the honors program seeks for students to complete.

What is all the emphasis on experiential learning?

Experiential learning is the second half of the requirements for honors program students to complete after they have completed 12 semester hours of honors coursework. This is where you really reflect on your learning in work, volunteering, trips, summer programs, research, and more. This is all because the honors program emphasizes that not all learning happens in the classroom, and this is one of the core features of the honors program. Experiential learning is this in action, and with reflection, you can see just how much you have learned and possibly an impact you have made on a community or individual.

What do I do to get involved in experiential learning?

Just about anything that is not a class may count for experiential learning. Here you can find examples of other students’ learning experiences as well as the required forms to submit experiential learning for credit. Of course, if you are at a loss for opportunity or just need to bounce ideas off of someone, talk to honors pro-staff! They are there to help.

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Dealing with Stress in College

Posted on March 22, 2022

College can be a part of the most stressful years of your life. There is so much going on whether it be course load, overlapping tests, trying to maintain a social life, connecting with family, dealing with homesickness, losing sleep, and/or having a tight schedule that is hard to maintain. No matter the situation, you can’t push through your day or be productive feeling stressed, so consider some coping mechanisms below:

1.) Treat yourself

• You may feel distressed by doing something that makes you happy. This can be long or short, just something to make you smile.
  • Go get coffee, tea, ice cream, eat out
  • Go get some fresh air and talk a walk, run, or bike ride
  • Watch some TV or a movie
  • Do a face mask and listen to some music

2.) Take a break

• This kind of goes with point number one, but you can’t be productive with a stressed mind, so clear it by taking a break. Do something relaxing or something that doesn’t take up energy.
  • Take a nap or just close your eyes for a bit
  • Take a walk
  • Watch TV or a movie

3.) Make a to-do list

• This one seems stressful at first because you are probably putting all the things on your mind into one place, but as you push through it gets better and you can easily see your progress of making some stressors go away.
  • Break up big tasks into small ones
    • Studying for a test? Break up your to-do list into sections of the units you are studying for.
    • This allows you to make progress in a bigger task but allows you to do smaller tasks in-between these progress marks as a break from the larger activity.
  • Make your to-do list chronological
    • This takes some additional planning, but it can also force you to take breaks if you put them on your list.

4.) Talk to someone

• College is so stressful that everyone knows students are stressed in one way or another. Reaching out to someone during your most stressful times could give you someone to vent to, take breaks with you, or even just check in on you.
• University of Iowa Counseling Services can talk with you one on one, but they also have great workshops that can help you target on your problem areas. They include:
  • Stress and/or anxiety management
  • Identity exploration or working across differences
  • Helping students in distress
  • Imposture syndrome
  • Disordered eating or body dissatisfaction
  • Depression management and/or suicide prevention
  • Team building

5.) Reach out to professors

• As daunting as they may seem, many professors are accommodating if you let them know what is going on (if you are stressed/why). They can’t read your mind though, so it is up to you to reach out to them and let your professors know if there is anything they can do to help, like make an extension of the due date for you.

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Do’s and Don’ts of Heading Home

Posted on February 28, 2022

Homesickness is real… in many forms. Sometimes you miss people, places, or things that just make you smile, but regardless, missing aspects of home can keep you from doing your best in college. So if you can go home to refuel your mental health, take advantage of it. However, after going home this past weekend, I have learned to keep some things in mind if heading home isn’t urgent (but still desired of course):

• Plan around your current schedule
  • Don’t skip classes if you don’t have to come home early, that is more work to make up for later.
  • Don’t go home if you have a test coming up or homework to do. You think you will have the willpower and time to study, but in most cases, you won’t. Keep this in mind.
  • Do plan your time home early, and don’t push it off for other things or else you will never find time to go happy.
  • Do tell people you plan on coming home. It will hold you accountable, people can make plans to see you while you are home, and others can make sure you travel safely.
• Enjoy your time away from campus
  • Don’t dwell on school and staying in touch with people back on campus. You will see them soon, so spend time with the people you are 5-minutes away from and haven’t seen in a while.
  • Do rest up. Traveling far can take a toll on you, so rest up to make sure you feel good for the rest of your time at home and make it a good experience.
• Take a bit of home back with you
  • Don’t take something you didn’t plan ahead for.
  • Do take something small and easy. I like taking a little bit of my mom’s cooking and baking back to campus to remind me of home and share with friends.
• Make the most of time with those you want to see
  • Don’t spread yourself thin with time by spending one-on-one time with absolutely everyone you know. You will be tired and stressed with no time for yourself.
  • Do invite those you care about to spend time as a group with you. People will be happy you are home, so invite everyone over for a board game to catch up. It is an easy bonding experience that lets everyone feel like they spent quality time with you while you were home.

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Things I Do Everyday As A College Student

Posted on February 9, 2022

College is all about time management and good habits, here are mine that help me stay on top of things and sane!

1. Make a to-do list
   • I make a to-do list of absolutely everything I plan on doing in the day (attend lectures, student organization meetings, work on projects, and more). This helps me take a mental note of my time management needs as well as gives me satisfaction that I am being productive even on days where it doesn’t seem like it.
2. Do a good deed
   • College is stressful for everyone, brighten someone’s day by taking a few minutes out of yours. Compliment someone, send a message to a company about an outstanding worker, or pick up and turn in that ID you saw on the sidewalk.
   • Funny story: One of my good deeds this week was to return some gloves to a stranger that I watched drop out of their pocket after they stood up from a bench. They walked just outside of the building I was in so I stepped right outside to return the gloves. Well, I ended up locking myself out of the building because my key card was inside and the stranger I just gave the gloves to hopped on and drove off in a bus, but shortly someone came by and let me in the building (and I got a little laugh out of the situation after I warmed up)!
3. Check-in with all of my classes
   • I have learned through error that little assignments are easy to miss, and those points add up. Every day I check ICON for every class of mine to see when the next assignment is due.
   • This is easy with the CANVAS app on your phone because there is a little icon that is a “to-do list.” This is a compilation of all of your classes and the due dates of upcoming assignments. Checking this helps me make sure I didn’t miss anything important.
4. Get or make breakfast and coffee
   • Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and a good one helps you get through the day. I always eat a good breakfast and grab or make some coffee before my classes start as an extra push to get through the day.
   • Going to get coffee I found is a good way to treat myself after a long, hard, and/or productive day just as much as it is to start a good day!
5. Check-in with student organizations
   • I hold various student leadership positions around campus, so taking a few minutes each day to check in with my duties helps me avoid some stress of having to set aside an hour or more in one sitting to get various jobs done.
   • I always like to respond to emails ASAP (the day they were received) or else I tend to forget about them. If it takes less than five minutes to do, just do it!
6. Set out clothes for the next day
   • We all have needed some extra sleep or accidentally slept in. Setting out an outfit a day early I found to be a good and easy time saver for those mornings that are a rush and blur.

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Dealing with Covid in College

Posted on January 17, 2022January 19, 2022

COVID-19 is something that has now affected everyone’s day-to-day life, and with new variants, we are all predicted to be affected yet again. Whether this be with sickness, isolation, virtual meetings and work, wearing a mask, or more pushes to get a vaccine/booster, these will all be the topics we can’t avoid in the upcoming semester.

I was exposed my freshman year of college and put into isolation housing in the dorms and at home, but I became sick over winter break this year (one year later). As unlucky as it is to become sick, I was lucky enough to not have to miss school. Although I did miss work, my quarantine time (and isolation time from the past) taught me a lot. To prepare for times like these or if you find yourself affected by the pandemic in any form, read and try using these steps to maintain your day to day lifestyle:

1. Talk to people. You can not go weeks, maybe not even days without human interaction. It is a necessity, even for the introverts out there. Call, or better yet video call, your friends, family, significant other, neighbors, resident assistants, and whoever you can think of. Even a professor you are comfortable talking with will most likely graciously set up a time to chat over zoom. People care about you, and when you are affected by the pandemic, people are likely to want to find ways to help, even if it is just to be a listening ear about everything that is going wrong.
2. Communicate constantly. Rather than just having a day-to-day conversation, make sure you are getting on a deeper level with people, especially professors if the pandemic is affecting your ability to attend class or complete classwork. Your professors want to see you succeed, despite how that may seem sometimes. Be open to them about your situation, preferably through email. Tell them if you need more time because you weren’t feeling up for work, they know you are in a stressful and mentally draining situation. Tell them you didn’t want to risk going to class because you were exposed to someone who tested positive, they will appreciate you keeping everyone safe. Tell them you didn’t remember to grab your textbook when you were moving to isolation, they will understand you were focused on grabbing more important things. Your friends, family, significant other, neighbors, resident assistants, and more will also be likely resources to help get you accommodations that you may need for your day-to-day life, sickness, and happiness. No matter what, communicate with those you encounter often so they can help you shape a more enjoyable experience in this dreadful time.
3. Pack activities (if you’re moving to an isolation room.) When I moved to an isolation room on campus, I was panicked. I knew I was going to be going home to isolate shortly, but I couldn’t process that in the moment. I’m pretty sure I packed an excessive amount of clothes for the possible time being, and I forgot all of my chargers for the electronics I packed. I didn’t grab anything to keep me busy, so you could imagine when my electronics died at the end of that day how bored I was. Even with electronics, the same old thing day after day gets boring. Bring a craft, something to color, something to read, etc.
4. Bring medicine, vitamins, and rejuvenating liquids. When I was sick, multivitamins, Vitamin C, Mucinex, Aleve, Powerade, and Zinc were my besties. Taking medicine and vitamins consistently is important as well as staying hydrated. You will never know when or if you will get sick, so stock up on these now so you have them later. It doesn’t hurt to start practicing healthy habits now too!
5. Stay as consistent as you can. If you are sick or in isolation, your days will most likely feel thrown off. You won’t want to eat, sleep, drink, complete tasks and work, or get ready for the day on your typical schedule. This is okay. You are sick and/or in a stressful situation, people will understand this. However, you will be alone and have to take care of yourself. Go to bed and wake up at a decent time. Eat meals as you normally would. Try to stay on top of your schoolwork as much as possible so you aren’t overwhelmed when things go back to normal. Do what you need in this time, but make it as close as possible to your average day (fake it to you make it!)
6. Pamper yourself. You may need extra sleep, go to bed early. You may feel the need to shower more, do it. You may feel the need to eat more, eat. You may want to do a skin cleanse, use that face mask. Relax and drink lots of water!

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