College campuses around the country offer students various
activities to do, such as clubs, sports, marching band, choirs, student
government, and community service activities. Knowing that SC State offers students these activities, I
asked three SCSU students what do you do for fun while at college, what campus
organizations are they a part of as well as what activities does that
organization do, and what are their hobbies.
College campuses around the country
offer students various activities to do, such as clubs, sports, marching band,
choirs, student government, and community service activities. Even though this
story is based on college student activity interests, here is a link to 100 Epic College Event Ideas for Students on Campus [2023].
Some of the ideas from this website link include, "Host a music concert, a
trivia night, movie night, service project, or charity
walk/run." Knowing that SC State offers students these activities, I
asked three SCSU students what campus organizations are they a part
of/what activities does that organization do, what do you do for fun while
at college, and what are their hobbies.
I asked Amauri Allen, who is a senior
communications major, what campus organization is he a part of/what activities
does that organization do. He said, "I am a
part of the Beta Delta, chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. My
fraternity is all about serving our surrounding communities and making the
world a better place." I also asked him what he does for fun while at
college. He said, "For fun, I usually just hang out with friends, enjoying
small road trips and discovering new music. Sometimes I may dance at the dance
studio just to release some stress and just for the fun of it. I love to do contemporary
dancing as well as hip hop." The last question I asked him was what his
hobbies are. He said, "My hobby is fashion. I love finding new clothes and
styling them in different ways. I found my love for fashion form my mother. My
mother and my brother have a nice sense of style."
I asked Chantelle Simpkins, who is a junior communications major, the previous questions. These are her responses. "One organization I am apart of is Kinks N Curls. Kinks N Curls is an organization where we bring awareness to different types of hair and hairstyles. We hold forums like hair porosity and protective hairstyles. We also hold fairs to sell different things to raise money; Some things I do for fun on campus are hanging out with my sisters. I usually go to events on campus like meltdowns or even games with them. I also enjoy going to the café with my sister because it gives us time just to talk; When it comes to hobbies there’s not much that I do but I do like working out. I also enjoy eating a new place when I have the time. One more thing I like to do is sleep because a lot of the time I am tired from the things I do doing my day.”
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."
Click this link to listen to the audio story
https://on.soundcloud.com/29X2P
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.”
Click the link below to hear the audio version Mr. Smith's interview
https://on.soundcloud.com/xtZyz
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
Click the link below to watch his interview
Jared Kirksey - 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.
Sharlene Luke
Dante Mozie
Online Journalism
9/14/23
Are SC State University Students Safe on
Campus?
At South Carolina State University, every few months or so off campus, there is some form of shooting. Sure, these shootings do not happen directly on campus, but still, sometimes it makes me wonder if students at SC State are truly safe? Between school shootings in America as well as your local grocery stores, I am wondering if SC State is doing enough to keep its students and faculty safe. According to washingtonpost.com, “More than 356,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since Columbine. There have been 386 school shootings since 1999 and there were more school shootings in 2022 — 46 — than in any year since at least 1999.”
One major thing that I noticed this university is not doing on annual
basis is active shooting drills. I got an alert from my phone from SCSU alert
saying that in late July 2023 they were going to have an active shooting drill
at 9 am. Personally speaking, this is the first time I heard that the
university was having an active shooter drill, and I wasn't
even on campus during that time. Between shootings off-campus, and not having
active shooter drills, I wanted to know the opinion of the campus police chief,
as well as two students on the safety of our university.
I asked Delano Whitfield, who is Mr. SC State, if he
believed that SCSU is truly a safe campus. “I do believe that SCSU is a safe
campus, but there also needs to be more security on some of the gates near off
campus housing areas. Protection is more than just checking students ID card,”
Delano said. I also asked him what could make students feel safer on campus.
“The university should implement a schedule where twice a week, there is
security checks from the head of the security and have on campus discussions
about how students feel about this campuses security and how to make changes to
it. The university should develop the area around the school so it can make
students feel comfortable. Also, the university should get a higher level of
security, as well as more emergency blue light boxes on certain areas of
campus, such as one near the softball field, the basketball court near Mitchell
Hall, and one at the student plaza.” The last question I asked him is if he
thinks SCSU should have annual active shooting drills. “At least 7 times out of
the year, the university should have active shooting drills specifically on
Wednesdays. I chose Wednesdays to do active shooting drills because that day is
usually when campus has the most activity.”
I also asked Essence Adams, who is a Communications
major, these exact same questions. The following are her responses. "I do
not believe this is a safe campus due to the fact that there is consistently
something bad happening to the point where it starts to feel normal. I believe
that SCSU should have annual active shooting drills and educate students on how
to handle bad situations like that. Also, the campus police should start to
make more connections with the students so that they can feel more comfortable
reaching out to campus police."
I asked SC State's Campus Police Chief, Timoth Taylor,
what were some of the measures that the campus police department has done to
keep SCSU students safe. "The president has invested in additional cameras
on our campus. We have someone sitting watching those cameras at night, watching
all the activity taken place at South Carolina State University, and that is
how we can dispatch officers quick into those areas that we may have problems within
the university. We also added 6 DTA agents who are security guards that are
patrolling the campus." Another question that I asked was are their
future measures for campus safety in the works. "Yes, there are future
measures in the works to keep this campus safe. We are planning to hire new
police officers. Also, we are going to put stronger gates up around the university,
so people can't just come through those gates at night."
The next question that I asked was did he believe that the university should have annual active shooting drills. "The university should definitely have acting shooting drills. During the summer, I took the whole department through active shooting training so that we can be prepared if we ever have an active shooter on campus. We will know what to do if we have victims shot by an active shooter." The last question that I asked him was what the measures are being taken to prevent an active shooting event on campus. "The university is adding more law enforcement personal as well as monitoring people as they go through the universities gates."
Between homework, campus clubs, internships, and many other college related situations that athletes have to focus on, I wanted to know how ...
