Strategies to succeed academically at SC State

In order to succeed in college, there are certain strategies that you need to have. You need to know how to study well, get to class on time, organize your homework, as well as prioritize your study time for quizzes, tests, and exams. Also, as the semester progresses, you might be showing up later to class rather than on time. I wanted to know what strategies that SC State professors, as well as a student, would suggest to the university’s student body. According to lpsonline.sas.upenn.edu, "Setting goals for each semester can be a highly effective strategy to help you keep your academic priorities in check. The SMART approach involves ensuring that your goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. Here is an example of a SMART goal: Specific goal: Set aside at least one hour a day to read assigned course materials. Measure your progress daily by tracking your time through a study app (measurable). Ensure your goal is attainable by letting your friends and family know that you are unavailable during this set time and, if possible, turn off your phone. This goal is relevant because it will allow you to consistently stay on top of your readings, so you're prepared for class discussions and other coursework. This goal is timely because it allows you to track your progress daily, weekly, or monthly."

I asked two faculty members these questions: how students can organize themselves to complete their homework on time, besides faculty, who else can students ask to help them with their homework as well as study for quizzes and exams, and how can students prevent themselves from missing their classes. I asked a student these questions: how you organize yourself to complete your homework on time, who do you usually ask to help you with your homework and studying for quizzes and exams, and how do you prevent yourself from missing classes.

I asked Mr. Smith, who is a communications professor at SC State, how can students organize themselves to complete their homework on time. He said, "Make sure that you map out what you need to do and prioritize certain things, such as what I need to do most first, and then afterwards. I also asked Mr. Smith, besides faculty, who else can students ask to help them with their homework as well as study for quizzes and exams. He said, "At SC State, there are a lot of different resources, such the office of student success and also asking peers to help them. You can create study groups, use library resources as well as online resources." The last question that I asked was how students can prevent themselves from missing their classes. He said, "That's a hard question. I would say that students would have to prioritize coming to class. Once you prioritize that, then everything else will fall in line."

I asked Dr. Luke, who is the Director Office of International and National Student Exchange Programs, the previous questions. These are his responses. "Students need to develop a weekly schedule of all their activities from the time they wake up, to the time they go to bed for each day. They should designate specific times to do their homework, knowing that each hour for class they should be putting in two hours of study, including completing homework; Students should go to the student’s success center and seek help from tutors. There also some faculty that offer tutoring in their departments or recitals. and some departments have students support units in their departments; Students must be dedicated and committed to their classwork. Its a personal discipline commitment situation when it comes to students going to their classes. Students have to be committed to going to classes knowing that they are going to do better if they go compared to if they don't go."

I asked Emanuel Washington, who is a senior communications major at SC State, the previous questions. These are his responses. "I plan out the work that I have to do for the rest of the week, and then I see the due dates that their on so I know the pace that I want to do it at, or which class that I want to prioritize over another class. Then I make sure that certain household things are taken care off, so when its time to do my homework their are no distractions, or anything that would prevent me from doing so. I just need to take care of this stuff, like taking out the trash and cleaning the dishes, so that I can focus on my homework; My go to when I need help with homework, as well as studying for quizzes and exams is my classmate, Chantelle Simpkins. She is a very resourceful person and very smart, so when in need that is the first person I ask for help. The second person that I would see for help is you. You’re a person who maintains your grades well, you take school seriously, so you and Chantelle are my go to people when I need help with my homework; I set alarms in order to wake up on time. Since I work out, and have other prior commitments, waking up on time for certain things is definitely number one priority. Another thing that I do is plan my day ahead of time. For example, today is Sunday, so I have already planned Monday and Tuesday, between work, school and working out. This way, I know when I'm going to get stuff done. Also, I check my emails. Sometimes class gets cancelled and other things are subject to change, so I check my emails a lot and try to stay updated on things and try to maintain my schedule. Since I'm busy at times, checking my email can be resourceful."

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Breaking/Spot News Story - Strategies to succeed academically at SC State

In order to succeed in college, there are certain strategies that you need to have. You need to know how to study well, get to class on time, organize your homework, as well as prioritize your study time for quizzes, tests, and exams. Also, as the semester progresses, you might be showing up later to class rather than on time. I wanted to know what strategies that SC State professors, as well as a student, would suggest to the university’s student body. I asked Mr. Smith, who is a communications professor at SC State, how students can organize themselves to complete their homework on time. He said, "Make sure that you map out what you need to do and prioritize certain things, such as what I need to do most first, and then afterwards.” I asked Dr. Luke, who is the Director Office of International and National Student Exchange Programs, who else can students ask to help them with their homework as well as study for quizzes. He said, “Students should go to the student’s success center and seek help from tutors. There are also some faculty that offer tutoring in their departments or recitals. and some departments have student support units in their departments.”

Mr. Smith

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https://on.soundcloud.com/xtZyz

Breaking/Spot News Story - How to maintain and increase college students health and wellness

Many college students know that college life is stressful. Between assignments, projects, quizzes, final exams, and not getting enough sleep, college can be a lot to deal with at times. Knowing how stressful college can be at times, I asked two SC State students a few questions considering their health and wellness. I asked Jared Toby Kirksey if he considers his health and wellness an important aspect of his life. His response was, “As an athlete my health and wellness are very important parts of my life, I have to maintain a certain weight and try to limit myself with going overboard regarding bad foods because I know depending on what you eat you can feel like that in your next game or practice. I asked Emanuel Washington if he considers his health and wellness an important aspect of his life. His response was, “Yes, I consider health and wellness important in my life. I think it’s imperative that one takes their health seriously, especially while still young. The older we get the more we have to maintain our bodies, but if you never did that when you were younger it would be much harder. Overall, being healthy promotes longevity, less joint pain, better cardiovascular health, etc."

 Jared Kirksey

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Jared Kirksey - Health and Wellness

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How to maintain and increase college students health and wellness

Many college students know that college life is stressful. Between assignments, projects, quizzes, final exams, and not getting enough sleep due to some of these things, college can be a lot to deal with at times. As time goes on, especially if we don't focus on our health and wellness, having more mental breakdowns will become our new reality. According to usnews.com, "In a Gallup poll that surveyed more than 2,400 college students in March 2023, 66% of reported experiencing stress and 51% reported feelings of worry "during a lot of the day." And emotional stress was among the top reasons students considered dropping out of college in the fall 2022 semester, according to findings in the State of Higher Education 2023 report, based on a study conducted in 2022 by Gallup and the Lumina Foundation." Knowing how stressful college can be at times, I asked two SC State students if they consider their health and wellness an important aspect of their life, what do they do to maintain their health and wellness, and which year of college do they think made their health and wellness the most unbalanced.

I asked Jared Toby Kirksey, a senior communications major, if he considers his health and wellness an important aspect of his life. “As an athlete my health and wellness are very important parts of my life, I have to maintain a certain weight and try to limit myself with going overboard regarding bad foods because I know depending on what you eat you can feel like that in your next game or practice.” I also asked him what does he do to maintain his health and wellness. " In order to maintain my health and wellness’s exercise and try to eat and drink in a balanced way." The last question I asked was which year of college does he think made their health and wellness the most unbalanced. "My freshman year of college of the year because of Covid I wasn’t able to work out the way I wanted so I gained weight and was eating very unhealthy and I turned it around my sophomore and junior year."

I asked Emanuel Washington, who is also a senior communications major, the previous questions. These are his responses. “Yes, I consider health and wellness important in my life. I think it’s imperative that one takes there health seriously, especially while still young. The older we get the more we have to maintain our bodies, but if you never did that when you were younger it would be much harder. Overall being healthy promotes longevity, less joint pain, better cardiovascular health, etc. Personally, for the maintenance of my health and wellness I work out 4 times a week. I try also run or do some form of cardio twice a week. Ever since I started lifting and running, I’ve felt better, look better, and I’m more confident as a young man. Being obese/overweight is detrimental to your health, if you can fix it in any way possible, I would encourage anyone to do so. The year of college that made my health and wellness the most unbalanced was junior year. Even though I lift and run consistently, my diet is not the best. Currently I am on a bulking phase, meaning I’m eating everything in sight to gain weight. Honestly eating healthier would be better but at this point I just want the scale to move up.