When people reach their senior year of high school, there is only one thing on their mind: college.
They have all seen the movies where there are big parties happening constantly with kegs and Jell-o shots galore. They have the image in their head that the next four years of their lives will be just like that.
Unfortunately, the parts they don’t really show in those movies are the stresses that comes with college. They don’t show the hours of studying and cramming for tests or the all-nighters that are pulled writing papers that are forgotten about.
Although it can be stressful, students who have good time management skills are able to juggle these activities while getting through four years of college.
During college, there are many opportunities to get involved on campus whether it’s sports, student council, different clubs or the newspaper. For people who do sports, it’s very time consuming.
Practices and games take up a lot of time in student-athlete’s lives, so without being able to have good time management skills, it’s hard to be able to get homework done on time and still study for exams.
For students involved in sports and other campus activities, their main strategy to help them juggle schoolwork and extracurricular activities is by planning their hectic schedules.
“I really like using my MacBook, Blackberry and Cabrini athletic planner to keep all my appointments and school work organized,” Maddy Edwards, sophomore education major, said. “Before I go to sleep I like to write down my schedule for the next day. It does get overwhelming at times, but you find a way to work it out.”
Many students say planners are a good strategy to use to be able to mark down homework, tests and when papers are due. They are portable and lightweight so you can check what is needed to be done at any given time.
Jacky McDermott, junior education major, is a student-athlete and works while averaging 15-18 credits each semester.
“Working during school and my sport is very time consuming so my way of managing my time is my planner,” McDermott said. “If I didn’t have it I would be lost. I baby-sit at least three to four times a week and sometimes until early in the morning.”
McDermott says without the scructure of her planner, she wouldn’t be sane.
For some students, campus activities can be very overwhelming and make it hard to stay organized.
Seniors especially feel that being organized their last year of college is crucial.
John Solewin, senior communication major, who is president of the senior class, Catholic Relief Services Ambassador and head of senior gift committee, admits he was never really organized up until this year.
“I mostly used to rely on post-it notes next to bed and emails,” Solewin said. “This fall I finally got a planner, which helps me stay on top of school meetings and events. It’s also created more time in my week because I’m getting things done now instead of last minute.”
