Students blog

Thumbnail Photo: Two members of Solar Car holding a windshield above the newly constructed solar car.  From left to right: Rachel Eckert, Composites Manager & Materials Engineer; Samuel Winter, Aerospace Engineer.

A new university, a new horizon. Since last spring, I have graduated from Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) and transferred to Iowa State University (ISU) to pursue my bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering. The overall transition from a two-year college to a four-year university was thankfully uneventful; however, I would soon realize the difference in how I should manage my time and work.

Getting Involved (Again)

After transferring, I was unable to continue my previous club activities – as most clubs at DMACC didn’t exist at ISU. I began a quest to find new clubs and hobbies.  I ran into an old colleague who mentioned a club they were in, Solar Car. I attended the following Solar Car team meeting and joined as an electrical member. My primary task was to learn how to read circuit board schematics and aid an older member with designing a battery protection system to monitor the car’s Lithium-Ion batteries. 

In addition to being involved with Solar Car, I was interviewed and accepted for a part-time IT Technician position on-campus within the Psychology Department. As a technician, I responded to faculty requests regarding problems with their electronic equipment. On top of both positions, I continued full-time school at ISU and began to delve into my coursework, but I failed to realize the predicament I placed myself in.  Not only would I have to choose what I enjoyed most, but I would also learn valuable lessons in time management.

Timing Trouble

By midterms, I began to notice my work piling up unproportionally across all three tasks.  As the semester progressed, each task became more demanding with varying expectations. The increasing expectations and workload resulted in several consequences. The two most notable and foremost consequences were my declining homework quality and diminishing amount of sleep.  In an attempt to correct my time management errors, I spent more time working late at night to catch up on homework. This not only resulted in a poorer quality of work, but it also reduced my number of hours of sleep. To top it all off, the more time I committed to work, the less time I was able to spend with my family, even during holiday breaks.

Despite my attempts to manage all three tasks, I still deviated from my intended goals and needed to cut my losses during the last few weeks of the semester. I reduced my work on Solar Car, cut back my hours at work, and submitted the homework I could produce within the hours I allotted.  This admission helped me regain some sleep and focus for final examinations.

Keep Moving Forward

Taking on a job while balancing coursework and car manufacturing was a worthwhile endeavor.  This circumstance brought to light how much I have yet to comprehend regarding time management, but I also learned a great deal about different engineering majors, computer management, and a wide range of topics from my classes.  With the deviation from my goals and a poor management of time and work, I learned a few valuable lessons:

• One, when scheduling courses and extracurricular activities, ensure that the time scheduled is rarely deviated.
• Two, schedule everything as early as permittable.
• Finally, while work comes first, ensure there is plenty of time for rest and relaxation. 

I will undoubtedly incorporate these ideas into my schedule next semester and beyond. As the future brings a spectrum of challenges, I will continue Solar Car as an Electrical Systems Manager and remain confident no matter what the future may hold. There will always be something to look forward to as the sun rises.

Study abroad is on the rise in colleges and universities. Everywhere I seem to look I see multiple opportunities to go overseas, which is great. When I began my higher education in a two-year college, I was determined to go study abroad. However, I discovered something even better, a program where you take a class throughout the semester at your home institution and then go on the adventure of traveling abroad for that class over a span of 10 days. I did this in my Spring 2019 semester by studying British literature and traveling to the United Kingdom. This travel option won me over immediately and it also worked well with my work schedule and other prior commitments. 

I wanted to share the insight I got, so let’s explore the three reasons why I choose to travel abroad instead of studying abroad and how it might benefit some students better, especially the ones that work part-time or full-time in the workforce.

The Cost

The biggest turn away for studying abroad is the cost that is associated with the program. Most students are either not able to afford the venture or not eager to let go of such a chunk of money for only a semester of study. I found that traveling abroad for a short time decreases the amount you pay and provides scholarship opportunities from the institution, unlike study abroad scholarships that are usually offered through an abroad company nationwide. Choosing to travel abroad directly through my community college meant I only had to pay half of the amount required because of the scholarship opportunities that I sought. Know you don’t have to pay a lot to go abroad if you just keep your eyes peeled for opportunities. 

The Time Commitment

The length of study abroad programs does vary based on the location and the semester, but it still requires a full commitment for that length of time. Some students might have the freedom to live in a different country for a whole semester, but most students might find it hard to ask off that long from their part-time or full-time jobs or other commitments. Traveling abroad is usually a shorter span, which is a lesser time to disconnect from your life at home. Going to Scotland and England for ten days was a flexible time frame for me because it allowed me to see a lot in a shorter period and it didn’t hinder my work schedule.

The Experience

This one will differ from student to student regarding studying abroad and traveling abroad because they provide different opportunities and perspectives. Some students prefer to venture off and embrace life abroad for a longer time, however, not everybody will be the same. I found within myself that I could not leave for that extended time because of the reasons above and that I was not ready yet to plunge into that prolonged experience. Moreover, traveling abroad offers that overseas experience without the long commitment from studying abroad and I found that beneficial in my undergraduate life.

Every student has a different path to their degree, which means that they can choose whether to study abroad or travel abroad. Personally, I loved traveling abroad because of those three reasons, and I am looking forward to traveling abroad again, this time to Moscow and St. Petersburg in May 2020. As I mentioned, I will be taking the class portion at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and then I will travel to Russia afterward. I hope you found this article helpful in deciding on whether to venture off on a big adventure with study abroad or get a taste of the travel without the big-time commitment. Regardless, I wish you all safe travels!

At the age of five, most children embark on their educational journey in hopes to one day obtain a career within a field they enjoy and love.  If you would have told me thirteen years ago that I would be attending a junior college while excelling in and outside of the classroom, I would more than likely think you were joking.  In reality, as a junior and senior in high school, I was devout and determined to attend Mississippi State University to continue my academic career in the field of communications.  

Considering all options

However, after numerous calculations, tuition rates at this senior university over the next four years projected a future of student loans and debt.  As a child in a family of four kids, my main goal when pursuing my degree has always been to graduate with the least amount of debt as possible.  Therefore, though I still continued to ring my cowbell loud and proud, I began looking into other options and scholarships that would help make my degree more accessible. 

One of the opportunities I embarked upon was the Distinguished Young Women’s program for East Jackson County. This scholarship program offers young junior girls the opportunity to earn cash scholarships while competing in the area of scholastics, interview, talent, self-expression, and physical fitness. To my surprise, after weeks of hard work and preparation, I was titled the Distinguished Young Woman of East Jackson County for the class of 2018.  Most importantly, I was awarded $3,100 in cash scholarships, and I also was able to receive $500 at the state program where I finished as a top 10 finalist out of 31 amazing young women. Through this program, I learned that I not only earned cash scholarships, but I also earned waived tuition at my local junior college, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, for holding the local Distinguished Young Woman title.  

Realizing the clear choice

Therefore, after endless hours of stressful worrying over the future cost of my education, I now received half of my education paid for debt-free.  Though putting my cowbell on the shelf for the next two years was difficult, I knew I still had the opportunity to transfer to Mississippi State University with a lot less debt.  My choice became a no-brainer.  While all my friends began packing their rooms and hauling off to their respected universities, I remained at home and prepared to attend Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.  

Growing up, I was always quiet and reserved, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however, I lacked the self-confidence that is essential for success. As a first semester college student, I didn’t make it a point to be seen or heard. I sat in the back of the classroom and would rarely ever speak out. Because of my lack of self-confidence, I was not active in my education. I slowly began to realize that while I was doing the work and making the grades, I was not growing because I would not allow myself to move outside of my small comfort zone. 

Starting small

I soon realized that in order to gain the confidence that I needed to go to the school of my dreams or to reach my full potential as a student and as a contributing member of society, I would have to allow myself to settle in discomfort. With the encouragement of my professors, I began small by talking more in class. By engaging in class discussion, I began to become a little more open to being heard and I realized that I had something to offer both inside and outside of the classroom. 

Gaining speed

I gained just a tiny bit of confidence, but that was enough and I continued to push myself to become more engaged. After breaking past the initial discomfort, I began to seek out opportunities to grow and become involved on my campus. I started working with the Phi Theta Kappa chapter on campus, initially volunteering to staff a sex trafficking awareness event for Alpha Iota Chi’s Honors in Action Project. I witnessed the impact that their involvement had not only on campus, but also throughout the community. I immediately knew that Phi Theta Kappa would serve an incredibly important role in my development as a scholar and a leader. 

Full speed ahead

The following semester, I successfully ran and was appointed as the secretary and treasurer for the Alpha Iota Chi chapter, as well as Vice President East of the Tennessee Region. I was beginning to grow not only as a student, but as a person. Outside of Phi Theta Kappa, I became heavily involved in the Northeast State Honors Program and presented at Northeast State’s Undergraduate Honors Research Conference. I also was organizing honors program recruitment efforts within local high schools and was chosen to serve as an Honors Ambassador on the Honors Advisory Board. During the fall of 2019 semester, two of my peers and I presented a research paper at the National Collegiate Honors Council Conference. 

With the encouragement of faculty, I became engaged and active in my education, and this has made all the difference in my success as a student and a leader. I went from being a student who almost never spoke to a presenter and I transformed from a passive student into a student leader. I now feel prepared to continue my education, and I have all the confidence that I’ll ever need to succeed. Let go of your insecurities, break down your personal barriers, and allow yourself to grow. 

“How did you go from a small high school in a developing country to a booming public university in the United States?” “How did you travel to Austria and Japan in the middle of the academic year and still manage to keep a 3.96 GPA?” “How do you balance your time when you take 17 credits, work, and participate in extracurricular activities at the same time?”  I hear these questions from friends, family, and peers often as they look back on all I have done in the last couple of years. I explain that I constantly look out for content on how to be more productive, successful, and happy. 

Tons of hours invested on TED talks, books, and seminars have given me mountains of advice. Some examples include waking up at 5 am when everyone else sleeps and no one will distract you, but when I do that, I run out of energy by 2 pm. I have also heard to attend office hours and ask questions, but my professors’ office hours often conflict with work or other classes. Focusing on your passion means I love engineering, but trust me differential equations are no pleasure. Even though all this advice has been somewhat helpful, it is often too specific and not flexible enough. I had to take in the advice and then tailor it to my own need and situation. After looking back and analyzing the last couple of years, I realized that the secret for my success comes down to these three simple rules I want to share with you. 

Rule One: Don’t procrastinate 

Regardless of what your goals might be, there will always be a list of tasks we all need to complete to reach them. Have you ever woken up one Sunday to realize you have a paper to write, a presentation to prepare, and a midterm to study for, all by the next day? If you ever experienced this, you probably procrastinated on these tasks. Wouldn’t it feel better if you had written that paper a week in advance, prepared the presentation two days ago, and all you had to worry about was reviewing the hard concepts for your exam? The emphasis is on reviewing, as you had hopefully already studied one hour per day during the last week and feel confident for the upcoming test. The idea of getting things done in advance does require a high level of discipline, but such discipline will not only help you in your academic life,  it will also make a great impact in your professional and personal life. 

Rule Two: Sleep

Coming from an immigrant household that had to work remarkably hard to pursue a better future, I grew up with a dad that had a mentality that sleeping is a waste of time. When talking about sleeping, my dad pointed out that by sleeping eight hours per day as recommended, I waste 33 percent of my life in bed. However, it did not take me much time to realize that in the 16 hours I am up, I get a lot more done than fighting between getting things done and trying not to fall asleep. Additionally, sleeping has a great influence on your body, and proper sleep helps you enjoy your life more and makes you happier. It is important not to use this rule to oversleep and argue that it will make you even more efficient. Sleeping too much can be as bad as not sleeping enough. If you have the discipline to regularly sleep six, seven, or eight hours per night depending on your own body needs, you will be a lot more productive than those that sleep less and work more, or those that party until late and suffer the next day.

Rule 3: Learn how to manage stress

It is common knowledge that university students experience high stress levels during the academic year. Students perform better when they manage their stress levels. Getting things done in advance and good regular sleep will surely help drop stress levels. However, no matter how well you follow the first two rules, if all you do from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed is work and study, I promise you will burn out by the end of midterms with half of the semester left to go. It is crucial to learn what helps you de-stress. It could be working out, going to the movies once a week with friends, or maybe just watching an episode of your favorite show. Whatever it is, make sure you find the time on your schedule to treat yourself. 

I hope these quick general rules will help in your goals. I know it takes a lot of discipline and time to include them in your lifestyle, but it will be rewarding and will take you closer to your goals. If you are looking for other strategies on how to be productive, I recommend the books “Getting Things Done” by David Allen and “The 5 Second Rule” by Mel Robbins. Best wishes in your goals and good luck!

Commencement address given by Jennifer Leonard to Ivy Tech Community College graduates on May 3, 2019.