Written by Mary Beth Hills

Fitting It All In

My roommate looked around our room on Thursday morning. Half-finished projects for an upcoming retreat she was leading littered the floor, along with leftover glitter from Halloween costumes, leaves tracked in from outside, textbooks, papers, and makeup containers. “I wish class didn’t get so in the way!” she exclaimed. “We need to clean up the room, do laundry, finish the last few things for the retreat, and do homework, but I have class in an hour. I wish it wasn’t so inconvenient!”

It’s easy to forget that the primary reason we attend college is for class. Between school, jobs, clubs, and sports teams, students can have a difficult time balancing everything. Here are five tips for finding balance in your college career:

1. Time management, time management, time management: Critical. Everyone gets the same 24 hours in every day, yet some people are super productive and some people are not. Set aside enough time for basic things like eating, sleeping, and exercising along with homework and spending time with friends.

2. Learn to prioritize: Make a list of everything you need to do (study for a test on Friday, do homework for tomorrow, make flash cards) and a list of everything you want to do (work out, watch a movie with your roommate, meet up with friends for coffee). Do the things you need to do, but sprinkle in some fun activities too!

3. Get organized: You need a place where you can record everything—from assignments to meetings to break weeks. Some options: your phone, Blackberry, iPod, a calendar (Microsoft Word has several templates), or a planner.

4. Schedule time to unwind: There will be times when you have two papers due and three tests…all in one week. Spend time taking care of yourself. Take a thirty-minute nap, a long shower, or go for a good workout—whatever you find relaxing. Success is difficult if you don’t take a few minutes for yourself every now and then.

5. Learn to say no: An overachiever’s worst nightmare, but this is important. Here’s a little secret: you’ll feel better, enjoy activities more, and be more productive if you learn to say no to the things that are time and energy suckers. If you were invited to a campus radio meeting, but you have absolutely zero interest in doing this, why waste your time? Spend time doing the things you like to do (and need to do) and you’ll enjoy your college experience much more.

So pencil in the meeting for Ballroom Dancing club and dinner with friends on Friday, there’s a way to enjoy everything that college has to offer!

By Devin Miller

Campus Bowling

Flyers line dormitory walls advertising free events on campus, but how often do we
actually check those out? Take advantage of these events! It is the perfect opportunity to branch
out and meet new people. Many times, you can leave with a nice souvenir and a new friend.
Besides free events on campus, colleges and universities often offer exciting activities at
reduced prices. Terpzone, a bowling alley at the University of Maryland’s Stamp Student Union,
gives students the chance to hit the lanes for only $2 on a Saturday afternoon! If students are
looking for a fun night out they can try out cosmic bowling, and get shoes and a lane for only
$5.50!
If bowling is not your forte, Terpzone also has ten billiard tables, a video game arcade,
and a wide-screen T.V. lounge. There is something for everyone!
The University of Maryland is definitely not the only school with cool hang out spots.
Towson University provides live music and performances at the Paws eatery in the Stamp
Student Union. Catch a bite to eat and listen to a new local band. With the high price of a trip to
the movie theater, Paws offers students a free alternative. Every Thursday and Friday night, there
is a screening of a popular movie.
Your Stamp Student Union is a great place to start looking for fun activities or events.
Also, with the popularity of social networking among college students, Facebook has become a
fast and efficient way to create events and invite large numbers of people. Instead of immediately
deleting these campus events or ignoring them, take the time to read the description. Often times,
these events help to raise money for a charity, and are a great way to give back.
The opportunities for inexpensive (or even free) fun surround you, but it is up to you and
your friends to take advantage of them. Why always do the same thing every weekend? College
only lasts four years so try your best to do something new every week.

Super Bowl is Over But the Action Continues

The Ricebowl Challenge officially opened yesterday, with New Orleans Saints’ quarterback Drew Brees and his fans going head to head against students across the country to answer trivia questions which earn grains of rice for the hungry poor.

“The Ricebowl Challenge is all about playing smart to tackle hunger,” said Brees, who has been building his team through a well-established social media network. “Whether you join my team or the opposing student team, this is a cause worth winning.”

During the week-long Ricebowl Challenge organized by the award-winning on-line vocabulary game, Freerice.com, in partnership with the Maine Department of Education, players will compete to see who can tally the most correct answers to the game’s trivia questions. For every correct answer, ten grains of rice are donated through WFP and paid for by advertisers.

Since taking the web by storm in 2007, Freerice.com has raised enough rice to feed more than 4.3 million people for a day.

“The challenge is on,” said Nancy Roman, Director of Communication and Private Sector Parnterships for WFP. “With Drew Brees at the helm of the Ricebowl, we have a fantastic opportunity to leverage social media networks across the nation and to see what an online community of hunger-fighting trivia fans can do in the fight against hunger.”

One early front-runner on the students’ team is the Maine Department of Education’s 1:1 laptop program, the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI).   MLTI has already started to tackle hunger, challenging students in grades 7 through 12 to battle for the Bowl in a public school event.  The organizers in Maine are going the extra yard for their state, approaching local businesses to match what is raised online as a contribution to local area food banks.
“Our state school laptop program is all about using technology to help students think globally while acting locally.  The Ricebowl Challenge is the perfect platform for us to learn about hunger – both here and abroad, brush up on some key subjects and be a part of a solution,” said Jeff Mao, the state’s director of learning technology policy.
For more information about how schools and individuals can join the competition, go to www.freerice.com/ricebowl.  Results will be tallied daily from February 6-12 and the top three scorers who rack up the most rice by February 12th win Drew Brees-autographed footballs.

About FreeRice.com

FreeRice.com is a non-profit website run by the United Nations World Food Program. Its designer, John Breen, developed the simple word game to help his teenage sons prepare for their college entrance exams and in March 2009 donated it to WFP. Driving the donation of rice are an average 40,000 players daily (1.2 million per month). WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide.  Each year, on average, WFP feeds more than 90 million people in more than 70 countries.

Supercamp

Why Students Need A Home Office

By Bobbi DePorter

President, SuperCamp

Developing strong study habits is an extremely important learning skill, but it’s often hard for kids to study at home with distractions such as TV and videogames, noisy siblings or family friends who drop in or frequently call on the phone.

Having a supportive and encouraging study space of their own can help students — whether they are in grade school, middle school, high school or even college — to develop good study and work habits. Here are some of the ideas we share with students who attend SuperCamp and with their parents:

1. Establish a defined study area

The most important factor in selecting a student’s study area is that it is quiet and away from distractions. It can be the student’s bedroom, a spare room, a den, a loft, or a bonus room in the basement or over the garage. Also, try to pull together a combination of furniture that fits his or her style. Lighting is also important. The space should be well lit without hurting the eyes.

2. Create affirmation signs for the study area

Positive signs have the ability to remind a student’s subconscious mind of his or her potential to learn. You and your kids can make some signs that contain affirmations such as those listed below. When you make the signs, use lots of color (our brains love color!). Here are some ideas:

• EVERYONE HAS THE RESOURCES TO BE SUCCESSFUL

• I BELIEVE IN MYSELF

• EVERYTHING I DO DESERVES MY BEST EFFORT

• EVERY CHALLENGE OFFERS A GIFT

• I AM UNIQUE AND VALUABLE

• I AM RESPONSIBLE

• I CAN LEARN THIS!

3. Provide proper study tools

Stock the study environment with reference books, writing materials, textbooks, computers and notes. Get kids’ ideas on what will work for them and help them create it. Add a bulletin board where visual aids such as charts, lists, or pictures can go. Put up a bookshelf to promote better organization. And use a daily planner. While there are online options, the physical presence of a planner open to the current day or week is a good reminder of the immediate priorities.

4. Add some music to the mix

Some classical music is “brain friendly” and enhances the study environment. Baroque music helps students to focus and to access their most resourceful learning state. The music optimizes the functions of the brain that store and retrieve information. Many (most?!) children will think that their own music is best, but try to convince them to try Baroque. They may well notice that it makes their study time easier, and want more. By the way, this is a great tip for working parents as well as for learning students! Try some of the following:

• Bach

• Handel

• Pachelbel

• Vivaldi

5. Plan ahead for success

Teach teens to use a calendar to mark days for upcoming tests. Begin the study process by organizing thoughts and creating a game plan for what needs to be accomplished. Determine how many hours to allocate to cover the content. Following a planned approach when studying gives students an opportunity to review the content more than once, increases their ability to remember at test time and reduces stress.

Each moment contains magical opportunities. At SuperCamp we call this concept “This is it!” It’s one of our 8 Keys of Excellence that we teach campers throughout the 10 days. It’s about being fully engaged in the now. Kids who practice this in their study habits learn the focus, curiosity and work ethic that can earn them high marks in school, work and all their endeavors in life.

Bobbi DePorter, teen motivation and accelerated learning expert, has changed the lives of over four million kids through her SuperCamp and Quantum Learning school programs and is author of more than a dozen books, including The Seven Biggest Teen Problems and how to turn them into Strengths (An Insider’s Look at What Works with Teens). For more information, visit http://www.SuperCamp.com and http://www.QLN.com. Contact Bobbi at bdeporter@qln.com.