Student Blog

Well, it’s that time again. Just about every 16 weeks we experience it. That’s right. Finals week. They can be extremely stressful and sometimes you may be asking yourself “WHY!?!?!”

Fear not! I have some suggestions that may help you get through this week, and prepare for your finals.

1. Get organized. Use your student planner to your advantage. Plan your study times ahead of schedule. I find that after a weekend of review for all subjects, studying 2 days before your exam for your specific class can really help. This is not to be confused with cramming… Assuming you know the material, and have been reviewing ahead of time, a quick recap the 2 days before is ideal. It lets you review those items you didn’t really do so well on before, and if you have any last minute questions, you will probably have enough time to get them squared away.

2.  Generalize. Take a look at your previous tests and quizzes for your class. What questions are asked more often than others? Is there anything you went over extensively in class? These are all hints to what you will find on the final exam. Don’t try and study every single thing you went over in class during the last 16 weeks.  Summarize the most important things in your own words, and review your summaries. I find it helps extremely well, because not only do you retain information you have written down better, but you also have to think about how you will rewrite the given material into your own words. Having things in your own lingo will stick better than bland textbook material, even if it covers the same topic!

3. FLASHCARDS!  This is almost the same as generalizing, but it helps with the more specific generalizations. (Oxymoron.. I know.) What i mean by this is, items you may have struggled with in your overview! Put those suckers on flashcards, and have at it! Bring them with you. A trick I use is, whenever I want to turn on or off a light, or change the channel on the tv, I have to recite something on one of my flashcards before I do it. You’d be surprised how fast you learn the material that way.

4. SLEEP!!! My personal favorite, and possibly the most important of them all, is getting enough sleep the night before. It doesn’t matter how much you study or think you know the material. Fail to get enough sleep the night before, and you will be only hurting yourself on the exam! Think of it like this. If you don’t get enough sleep the night before, (you shouldn’t have been cramming, since you planned ahead and scheduled study time anyway!) you will be a walking zombie at the worst possible time to be one. (Halloween is the only good time to be a zombie.) So, the day before your exam (I said DAY!!) get some exercise. Play with your pets, go for a run, bike ride, whatever you do. Wear yourself out. But not right before bed! If you exercise right before bed you will not be tired. In fact, you’ll be roaring to go. Not exactly the ideal scenario when you have an exam at 7:30 in the morning!!!

Relax.  You’ve studied your behind off, and now you sit at your desk staring at that dreaded test. Don’t stress! You did well. Not only did you study ahead of time, but you also took care of any other questions you had, and you got a good nights sleep, along with a healthy and hearty breakfast. Take your time, and most importantly take your test!

I know it’s easy to do, but stressing is unhealthy. Try as hard as you can not to over stress yourself. Some anxiety is normal, but you shouldn’t get so worked up you turn purple during the exam. Take a breath, count to 10, think of a cute little puppy, or a kitten, frolicking in a beautiful meadow, and then resume your test. You can do it.

Question of the day: What do you do to maximize your studying time? It would be interesting to see how others study, and see how not only myself, but everyone might be able to improve their strategies. studentblog@scf.edu

With all of the news stories heard daily, sometimes it can be hard to wonder where this world is headed. Lately, there has been a lot of talk about Joseph Kony. For those of you who don’t know, Joseph Kony is just about the worlds most hated man right now, and for good reason. The things he has done are tragic.

The light shining on Africa right now with this situation has made me think a lot about the contrast between other countries and here in America. There are kids, teens, and even adults that struggle on a day to day basis to find water fit to drink, or food that hasn’t gone bad or won’t make them sick. It’s astonishing to me to think that it could just as easily be us in the same situation. As a college student, I sometimes do take my education for granted… As a matter of fact, I think we all do. We’ve got something that is truly one of a kind. Not many people can say they have a college education!

While stressing over your exams, cramming, doing homework assignments, dreading that screeching alarm clock every morning, try to keep in mind the reason you are doing it all. For an education! It’s something people literally would kill for.. Something that can not be measured in a dollar amount (although, it is a bit pricey at our age), because it is not something bought. It is something earned. It is an investment you make in yourself.

Some people say school is expensive, and not worth the hassle. I strongly disagree. We are fronting money to the economy, and the interest we earn back will be a hundred fold! An education is not something that can be taken away from you. It is the most prized possession one can wish to acquire.

The purpose of this blog, to me, is to try to convey to you, my audience, that you should not doubt yourself. This is simply an investment, and like the stock market, what you put in, you (hopefully) get out two or three fold.. Who knows, maybe even more!

When the economy finally picks up, and all of us have our degrees, we will be glad that we stuck with it when we did. We will be living like royalty, reaping the benefits of our education. Something few across the globe will be able to claim. So keep your chin up! Look at the bright side of things! We are going to college! Not many can say that, especially in the trying times we are in.

Try to seek happiness in the small things in life. Be glad you are stressing over that exam, or dreading that homework. (I know, sounds odd doesn’t it?) You will be glad you did in a few years, when things are drastically different.

What are your thoughts on a college education? Email me what you think about it! studentblog@scf.edu

You know those confirmation numbers you always get?  The ones after you make an online payment, telephone payment, or a registration for something.  You know how you always think (at least me anyway) I won’t need it…but….—and you wind up saving it, or writing it down a scrap piece of paper?  I’ll tell you what—it’s worth it, because sooner or later you’re going to need one of those annoyingly long confirmation numbers, you know, the ones that are like 47TGH439THX.  Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but you get the point.

So anyway, after I had sent off an email asking if I could get some extra graduation tickets, my world of “everything’s going really well these days” suddenly became a little stormy.  You see, I had expected a simple response email, something like: “Not a problem, you can pick up the extra tickets after the graduation rehearsal meeting.”  That’s not what happened.

At 5:08pm, last night, I checked my email during a break in one my evening classes:

“William, It appears as though you have not completed the online graduation attendance form by Nov 12.  You will have to fill out an appeal to the Education Records Office if you wish to be considered for the ceremony.”

Panic, frustration, anger, and disbelief are just a few of the emotions that ran through my mind.  Had it really all come to this?  Had I done all of this work, and now I might not even be able to attend my own graduation ceremony? No, not possible.  I know I checked all the boxes.  I know I filled out the online attendance form.

Well–after I calmed down–I remembered that after I had completed the online attendance form, I received a confirmation email, and you guessed it, it had a confirmation number: 67.  Oddly enough, over the Holiday weekend, I was cleaning up my email inbox.  I deleted a lot, but I didn’t delete the confirmation email. I even printed out a copy, just to be safe.

I replied to the email, attaching the original confirmation email I received from the records office.  This morning, I got an email both apologizing and informing me that I was on the list for attending the graduation ceremony.

Granted, mistakes happen.  Was I happy about spending the entire night worrying that I might not be able to attend my own graduation?  No, not one bit, and neither was my family.  But things happen, and every now and then you need those confirmation numbers.  No system is ever perfect, but if we anticipate the unexpected, navigating the potential storms becomes a little easier.

Panic!… “…and panic was lost in a deep understanding…” -Against Me!
It felt like lightening hit my bones when I saw the time… the sleep monster has already eaten two hours of my day (including one class). So, I can’t sit in the stink of self-pity, I have already written an email to my professor… no excuses, just the facts… I think that only Franz Kafka could accurately describe the nervousness and anxiety of approaching a thing without knowing how it will respond. But, putting the judge/victim aside, I also know I will see a few people from my class who will be able to catch me up on the lecture notes. As well as the notes made available on our Angel System. So, now to stoke the fires of disappointment into some motivation and get this meat suit movin’.

Smack in the middle of week five and I’m still debating the possibility of dropping a class. Don’t worry, though: the class hasn’t actually started yet. I registered for a late-start Archaeology class which is set to start tomorrow, but I’m already in way over my head this semester, with 12 credit hours, one Gordon Rule class, a household to take care of, a lawn to mow,…and I did happen to mention I’m 23 weeks pregnant, right? Yikes, what a semester! Anyway, I need to decide shortly about the Archaeology class. It starts tomorrow and we’re supposed to have read the first three chapters. I haven’t broken the cellophane seal surrounding the book yet.

All this homework, studying, online quizzes and tests, and where is a person supposed to find time for social activities? On the one hand, I’m lucky I don’t also have to hold down a full-time job, considering the fact I am a proud recipient of the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill. I do, however, miss having time to hang out this semester without it involving lugging my wheeled backpack behind me. It’s like the little sibling who just won’t leave. I will be making time today to visit the tables for the last day of Club Rush on the Venice Campus, and hopefully I can attend Swamp Scribes’ first Open Mic tonight in the Student Union at 7pm. It’s a toss-up, seeing as my son’s first grade Open House is also tonight. And there’s a pirate theme. This is why first grade is occasionally just a bit cooler than college. Unless you’re in the Pop Culture club. They also dress-up, but the theme isn’t exactly pirates.

On that note, time to turn my Roomba on and head to class. It’s nice to have a machine vacuum for me while I’m off earning a degree. I’m only upset it took me this long to buy one. Thank you Short Story LIT, with your emphasis on science fiction, to give me the push toward robotics I always never knew I needed.

Til next time, to dig or not to dig? That is the question.

Enjoy the rest of the week,

Cherstin

     I parked at school last week next to a large beat up van.  On the window the owner painted, “5 Mill O.B.O.”  It made me feel like I was at college with real students.  So many people opt for these refined pieces of chrome nowadays, but now my dented gray automobile fit right in.
     As per the good news: I found a lot of scholarships!  For the bad news I missed the deadline for transferring SCF Foundation Scholarships, but if you’re a student continuing at SCF next semester you still have until April 1, yes that is seven days away!  There are also private foundation scholarships available that have varying deadlines, with the earliest being March 31.  I know it feels like no time to consider next semester when this one is just half over, but don’t miss the deadline like I did.�
     Well my scatterbrain has more homework to do, including a few scholarship applications- know anyone who would write me a letter of recommendation?

     SCF has added a new facet to their website called SCFconnect, or The Portal.  I personally like the word portal better, because it makes me think of teleporting myself.  In a sense, the new portal does just that.  When I first logged into the new system and looked around, it struck me: there is so much that SCF was doing that I didn’t know about!

     The first thing that stuck out was the email.  I didn’t have to sign into my email account separate, it was right there in a box on the screen!  When I get a bill from my car insurance company, however,  this isn’t quite as exciting.   Then I switched tabs to the Student section.  I found a lot of helpful links, like Angel is there front and center.  I’m told that we won’t have to log in to Angel anymore either, once they progress to the second step of SCFconnect.

     The part that I really geeked out on was the announcements in the Student section.  I scrolled down and saw info about the Student Wellness Program, which I’d heard about but never gave it much thought.  It turns out you can participate in health events (exercise, fundraiser walks, dental cleanings, etc) and earn points which you turn in at the end of the semester for prize drawings and tuition drawings!  Turns out I do need to clean my teeth every few years, and I love to exercise.  I literally got out a notebook and starting taking notes on this program.

     To further my journey was the Student Finances area that had a really helpful little spot for financial aid.  Actually the whole page had FAFSA facts, deadlines, and links to SCF foundation scholarships which I was amazed to find so many listings of scholarships available.  They’re available to students transferring out of SCF as well!!  Deadlines for that are April 1, 2010 and March 14, 2010 respectively.

     Then I went to the Library tab, where I found the online databases right there for everyone to see.  Not hidden away anymore, within a series of clicks and quirks.  Ah, researching will now be a breeze.

     The last section is the My Tab.  Hehe.  I was able to go in (under the tiny link at the top called ‘content layout’) and put the “Word of the Day” in there, the Wellness Program, and the weather.  I religiously check the weather every morning, so that will be handy.  I just have to figure out how to paste a picture of myself in the middle of the screen now.

     Oh man, I could talk about the portal for quite awhile.  The new change was a fantastic one.  I can’t wait to see how else they fine tune it, and what else will be added.  I’m sure I’ll have more to say, once I stumble onto the other points of the portal.  In the mean time, it will be 74 degrees on Monday, and I won’t be stranded indoors.  Mwhahaa.

In the past few weeks I have come to realize how important time management is, and I’ve realized I need to learn how to improve my time management skills a little bit.   The semester is dwindling away, as I continue working full time while applying and preparing to transfer to USF.  TIME has become a precious thing for me; not to be taken for granted or wasted.  Several things are helping me stay balanced: prioritizing, making lists, using my planner, organizing, setting personal deadlines and goals, as well as staying aware of deadlines. 

HELPFUL TIP!!  Take advantage of “stolen” time by studying on your lunch break, or anywhere you have waiting time. 

Don’t forget how important it is to fit in a little fun time with family and friends so you don’t become burnt out and out of touch. I think we all struggle with this from time to time (no pun intended) so don’t be too hard on yourself.  Just take a step back to reevaluate things if needed.  

Don’t ever forget why you’re doing what you’re doing, and that all of your hard work will pay off.  Nothing worth having comes easy.

I’m in the MCC library racking my brain trying to think about what to blog about and unfortunately nothing is coming to mind…I’ve never had this problem before. I guess I’m having a little case of “bloggers block.” I’ve had a crazy busy week filled with a lot of homework and preparation and planning for upcoming projects. I guess it doesn’t help that I’ve also been somewhat sleep deprived this week since I have been so busy. So I’m sure all of these factors have to do with why I’m just drawing a blank, my mind is so tired and worn out yet still racing with thoughts about things I still need to get done.

I do have a couple of important reminders: Summer tuition is due on May 4th and we can already start registering for fall classes on April 20th for those of us who have 30+ credits. April 21 for students who have 0-29 credits, April 22nd for Returning students (enrolled at MCC during Summer or Fall 2008 terms but not currently registered for Spring 2009 – excluding transient students) and last but not least May 4th for NEW students (including transfer, transient, readmits and all others not previously registered for Fall 2009.)

I hope everyone has a fun safe Easter weekend. I am looking forward to spending time with friends and family and cracking confetti eggs on everyone’s heads! If you don’t know what I’m talking about…they now have them at Wal-Mart .  They’re a lot of fun — my great grandmother used to make them,.  I’m originally from TX… so I’m not sure if it’s a TX thing but either way Wal-Mart has jumped on the band wagon. I would suggest you pick up some confetti eggs — they make for a great time!

Sorry this blog is so random…it’s been a crazy week!

Do you have any questions or comments that have not yet been covered on our blog site? If so we now have an e-mail address where you can respond to the blogs that Sarah or I have written with questions or comments. The e-mail address is studentblog@scf.edu - we will be sure to do our best to incorporate your questions and comments in our future blogs.

I know it can sometimes be difficult to know who or where to go to get your questions answered.  Sometimes it’s other students on campus who know best because they may have already experienced whatever it is you have a question about. I am excited about this new option with the student blog site and I hope it will continue to help current and future students. I consider myself fortunate to be a part of the student blog site and help other students out there.  It has been a cool experience so far and I am looking forward to blogging throughout the spring term.

Reminder…the last day to apply for May graduation is Friday January 30th, 2009! If you have any questions concerning this be sure to shoot us an e-mail and we will do our best to answer your questions and direct you to the appropriate people if necessary. Congratulations to all of you who are almost done!