Students How 2, Spring 2023

Students How 2

For you, the college student who wants to learn to do everything better, easier or cheaper

In this issue:

•How to stay motivated and active in college

•How to graduate college, from a military perspective

•How to get through a boring assignment

How to stay motivated and active in college

by Caroline Worch

College students have a tough time balancing all of their responsibilities, especially when they factor in a social life, time to eat and an exercise routine. Many want to have a steady exercise schedule but cannot find the time or motivation to put it into action. Here are a some ways to stay active and make exercise a bigger part of your life.

Enjoy yourself

Find an activity that you enjoy that makes you stay active. Finding what you enjoy in college is a major step toward getting in shape.

Search for a sports club or try some new activities at the university gym. There are many options that your university offers to help keep you active.

Try to walk short distances instead of driving. It is always convenient and easy to drive everywhere, but walking

is good exercise and you will save money on gas. It is an easy way to stay active without having to make up for too much time that could be used on school work. Go on a walk with a friend , walk to your favorite coffee shop or just around town. Also try taking the stairs instead of an elevator whenever you can.

The recreation center of most universities offer workout classes, a resistance room, yoga and personal training.

Habits

It generally takes two weeks to form a new habit. Tell yourself you will do some sort of activity, whether it be jogging or meditating, and make it a routine. An effective way to develop a good habit is to reward yourself for finding ways to stay active. For

example, plang to buy a new pair of shoes or even schedule some downtime or something else you want after you have committed to an exercise activity for a period of time.

Scheduling and planning

Plan out your week. Plan a specific time to go to the gym every day. I have always needed structure, and scheduling time to go to the gym motivates me to make it happen.

Downloading a workout planning app on your phone or having an actual planner helps you stay motivated. Your phone has many apps you can download . Examples include Caliber and the Gym Workout Planner and Tracker.

Maggie Spear enjoying a treadmill workout

photo by Caroline Worch

How to graduate college, from a military perspective

by Hayden Beswetherick

Graduating college is not easy. The college dropout rate in the United States is 40% and in public universities, the average is higher at a 50% dropout rate, according to thinkimpact.com

“In 2019, student veterans had an average GPA of 3.39,” according to PNPI, The Postsecondary National Policy Institute. Also according to PNPIO, “In 2015, veteran students had a 54% completion rate, which was similar to the overall national average of 53% and higher than the 39% completion rate of other adult learners.”

This article is about how to apply skills learned through the military and ROTC to help you navigate through college. It includes firsthand accounts of how two ROTC cadets have applied these skills to college life and what has been beneficial to their college success.

Time management

An absolutely essential skill for success in life and college is time management. This skill must be used throughout your entire time at a university.

Planning is a way that Luke Schulze, a cadet at East Carolina University Army ROTC, manages his time. He says that time management and using a planner has been paramount in his success in college.

“I use a planner” said Schulze. “I never used a planner before, in high school.”

Using time management gives him time to plan for leisure activities and working out.

The method for time management that I utilize and that has helped me personally is backwards planning. Backwards planning is taught in ROTC and is where I learned how to

efficiently plan. The framework used for this method is called the T-Week framework.

According to the United States Army Website, “The T-Week framework aligns the weeks before and after each training event to required actions or activities to plan and prepare. As an example, ‘Week T’ is the week of execution for an event.” Week T-6 is six weeks before execution. Week T+1 is the week after the event.

“I start with Friday and work my way back to Monday,” says Aaron Carey, an ROTC cadet at East Carolina University. He learned this method of planning in ROTC and has implemented it to be better prepared for schoolwork. He utilizes it to prioritize assignments. Schulze has also incorporated backwards planning in his everyday life.

Troop Leading Procedures are also useful. As taught by ROTC, it is an eight-step process that starts with receiving the mission, and ends with supervising and refining. These procedures are used to plan for operations in the United States Army. The TLP’s, however, can be adapted to the civilian side.

“When working on group projects, I use most or all the TLP’s to organize and create a plan for the projects. This helps me stay on track to create a plan, send out what needs to be done by who, and if anything needs to be refined,” says Carey.

TLP’s will help in freeing up time, by giving a methodology to planning which makes planning more systematic and efficient. Incorporating

Luke Schulze about to do some homework.

photo by Hayden Beswetherick

TLP’s allows you to have more time for a social life and to de-stress. If you plan, you will find previously lost time that will allow you to do leisure activities. Schulze likes planning time in the day and week for leisure activities, helping him decompress from his college workload.

Find a community

The key attribute for success in college is “having a foundation,” says Schulze.

Schulze considered dropping out of college during his sophomore semester. The reason that he did not quit was the foundation and structure around him. Having friends, family, peers and mentors helped Schulze get back to a good mindset.

Structure and support are important factors to having a successful college

life. Carey says that without his foundation of primarily his fellow ROTC members, he would have dropped out of college.

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“I stayed because of ROTC and family advice” he said.

Find a group of friends that support you and stick with them. When you’re thinking about skipping an assignment or event, or even dropping out of college, lean on this group of people.

Without family, both Carey and Schulze would’ve dropped out of college. Carey and Schulze have found their community with ROTC, now it’s your time to find what community you want in college to succeed.

How to stay active in college

continued from p. 1

What do other college students do?

Maggie Spear, a communications major, at East Carolina University, says she balances out her time by having a specific schedule for school. Maggie says she “is on a streak of being on the row machine for at least 15 days now.”

“Try and find something you enjoy in order to stay interested in staying active,” Spears states.

Jack Wills, a sophomore at East Carolina University, says “It is hard to work out around my schedule, but I am my only motivator. I live off campus, so I go straight to the gym after my classes.”

Having a schedule has helped him become structured in college.

“Without a structured schedule, I don’t know how I would become active,” Wills said. “I need a schedule that helps me become more active.”

Aaron Carey writing in his planner.

Jack Wills at the gym after class.

photo by Caroline Worch

photo by Hayden Beswetherick

How to survive a boring assignment

by Emma Lyden

Sometimes it feels like a chore for students to merely put their name on an assignment, let alone complete it.

Not every class or subject is going to interest you, but there are ways to make the work you are assigned in those classes feel more enjoyable. Finding and sticking to an effective routine when completing these boring assignments can help kick-start a new and stimulating perspective on your educational journey. Here are six tips to help you get through a boring assignment.

1. Establish a workspace

A key start to completing a boring assignment is finding an adequate workspace. This space should be comfortable, clean and should make

you feel calm and focused. According to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service at ucas.com, “Students who study in a positive learning environment have been shown to be more motivated, engaged, and have a higher overall learning ability.”

Even surrounding yourself with items related to the subject can help keep you focused on the task at hand.

2. Create a plan

Having a plan of action can make completing a boring assignment not feel so impossible. Assistant Director of the Pirate Academic Success Center at East Carolina University, Amber Arnold, speaks on the importance of not only having a plan of action, but ensuring it is a plan you will stick with.

Arnold explains that it is helpful to break up your plan into small steps, using every milestone reached as a motivator to continue. She described the sense of accomplishment after each milestone being a key factor to getting through any assignment.

3. Use fun task tools

Make sure to have everything you need for the assignment in your workspace. That way, you won’t have to interrupt your work to search for something.

Also, use tools that work best for your style of learning. Options include using a whiteboard, a chalkboard, sticky notes, colorful pens, and your computer or tablet. Many computers and tablets have features like speech annotation or programs that let you draw your notes with a stylus. These can be very helpful if used correctly.

4. Reward yourself

Besides the satisfaction of finishing an assignment weighing on your mind, there are many different rewards that can motivate you to complete a boring assignment.

Danbury, Connecticut public school teacher Alexandra Grant explains how she takes part in this reward system to entice her students into completing assignments.

“We have a snack bin, so for not-soexciting tasks, they [the students] pick a snack while completing,” said

A student struggling with a boring assignment.

photo by Emma Lyden

Grant. She continues with her thought process describing how, “allowing for success along the way helps with completing assignments.”

Rewards can be just as effective when you give them to yourself. A blog post on 4tests.com lists 50 ways to reward yourself for finishing your work, including playing a video game or watching a movie you’ve been wanting to see.

5. Seek outside support

Never be hesitant to seek help from family, friends, peers, tutors or teachers. Collaboration with others can help initiate the flow of new ideas and aid in either starting, continuing or completing your work.

Even if they cannot help with the work, your support system can also simply motivate you.

6. Use your boredom

Contrary to popular belief, procrastinating on a boring assignment can help in completing it to the best of your ability.

In Adam Grant’s TedTalk, “The surprising habits of original thinkers,” he explains this concept and how procrastination is a beneficial tool for finding the peak of your creativity and giving time for ideas to marinate. Also, ask yourself why you’re bored

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by the assignment. Sometimes, it might feel like the work is too repetitive. if that’s the case, scheduling intermittent breaks everry half hour or so can help break up the monotony.

If you’re bored because you feel like you have been assigned something you already know how to do, ask yourself if there is a way to put a new spin on the work. An article on forbes.com, states it can help to “look for magic in the mundane.”

If the work seems boring because it’s difficult to do, you might want to meet with your professor or a tutor to better understand the material before you start working on it.

With new insight into what you are doing, you might find that the task you thought was going to be boring has actually become an interesting opportunith to absorb new information.

Both the content for this newsletter and the design are created by students enrolled in COMM 3310 Copy Editing and Design in the School of Communication at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina during the Spring and Fall semesters under the direction of course instructor Barbara Bullington.

We welcome suggestions for article ideas for future issues.

For inquiries, please email bullingtonb@ecu.edu