A Bear's Life: Student Stories

Student stories from our peer counselors

Archives for March 2022

Sharing Springfield Experiences (Spring 2022, Week 10)

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The semester is really starting to fly by the more I think about it because it is already close to April.  

During this semester I have challenged myself to try new things and to destress away from campus to save myself from burnout. I have learned throughout my time at Missouri State that taking time for yourself is important for your mental health, peace of mind, and overall happiness. I had to learn that there must be a separation between school and work, especially if you are someone who values spending time by yourself or with friends. I have recently visited a few places in Springfield that I have never been to, so I wanted to tell you all about my experiences.   

I have a close friend that I met at Missouri State in my sophomore year art class, and we have been friends since then. I have visited some unfamiliar places in Springfield with my friend and we have been able to share the experience of going to various places with each other.   

Springfield Experiences  

Coffee Shops 

Coffee shops are a great place to go to relax and Springfield has lots of great coffee places, including several within walking distance or near Bear Line access. My new favorite coffee shop near campus is where a lot of students or Springfield residents can come in and relax. This isn’t just any ordinary coffee shop because they also sell tea, malts, and sweet treats like brownies. There is a warm and welcoming ambiance when you first walk in because it takes place inside of a house-like structure and the people that work there are nice. I highly recommend getting a chocolate brownie and an iced white mocha coffee, which has become my personal favorite. This particular coffee shop has three levels, so I can sit on any level to hang out with friends or just relax. I can spend time together with my friend for hours in a coffee shop and will be trying some new coffee spots whenever I get the chance, especially with finals approaching.   

Chinese Restaurants 

I think finding a good, affordable restaurant that you enjoy and can visit when you need a break from on-campus dining is an important self-care step. Personally, I crave Chinese food on occasion but after being in Springfield for so long, I have found it hard to find good Chinese food and not just some sushi rolls. I went on the hunt a few weekends back to try to find a Chinese food place that was affordable and had some good options. My friend had given me some recommendations since she had tried a few places, so after hearing about her experience, I went to a buffet-style restaurant close to campus. This restaurant was less than ten minutes away from campus and had food options for just about anything from chicken to sushi rolls; they even had a dessert section. I enjoyed the open floor plan so that I could see not only the buffet but also the other people coming in to eat as well. I was really happy with the food choices and the fact that they serviced your drink when you needed a refill. I paid less than twenty dollars and was given a complimentary fortune cookie when I paid my bill. Overall, I was happy with my experience at this affordable restaurant and will visit again whenever my craving hits.   

Takeaways for this week  

After being a student for so long, it can get tiring to the point that you start to question your career path or the major that you chose, so I am always finding outlets to keep myself going. It is important to remember that your life is not just about your education but what you make it. Get out, try some new things, and discover what Springfield has to offer whenever you get the chance. Hopefully, hearing about my experiences and the places that I visited has encouraged you to explore and find your own favorite coffee shops, restaurants, or other spots to relax or enjoy a break from campus.   

 

~Alexandria 

(Bio: I’m the middle child of seven kids in my immediate family. I’m currently a senior business major at Missouri State University.)

A Week in My Life (Spring 2022, Week 9)

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A Week in My Life at Missouri State University

Hello everyone, happy Women’s History Month! I hope you all had a brilliant Spring Break. This week, I want to share a bit of what my life is like here at MSU. Life at Missouri State looks a little bit different for each student depending on a number of factors. So, I thought it would be nice for our readers to get a little insight into what it’s like for me to be a Communication student at Missouri State for a whole week.

Monday

Mondays are my busiest days. After waking up to my alarm, I get dressed and ready to go out for breakfast with my roommates. Breakfast is quite convenient to grab with friends when you live in a residence hall. After that, I grab my bag from my room and head to my first class at 10:10 AM. I am in my communication classes until 12:05 PM, so afterward it is time for lunch! What I have for lunch really depends on my mood, but it’s usually something simple that I can make in my dorm. My last class is at 2:00 PM, so I relax until then. Once that class is finished, it’s time to go to my counseling session. I use Missouri State’s eight free sessions at the Counseling Center, which I highly recommend. By the time I’m finished with my session, it’s time to head to the dining hall with my friends for dinner. After dinner, I spend time relaxing, watching TV with my roommates, or doing some homework.

Tuesday

Tuesdays are less hectic for me, though that does not mean I am not busy! Breakfast is the same every day for me, but on Tuesdays I go into work at the Center for Academic Success and Transition as a Peer Mentor from 11 AM – 1 PM. After work, I like to grab lunch at Einstein’s over in Glass Hall and sit down to do some homework. Homework for a COM student who is also studying Creative Writing as a minor means a lot of reading and writing. I nearly always have a paper or poem to write and edit, or research to do so I like to sit in Glass Hall to work on it. Finally, I have a night class on Tuesdays at 4 PM and I grab dinner at the dining hall afterward.

Wednesday

My Wednesday is nearly identical to my Monday! I have all the same classes, but no counseling session, which is only on Mondays. The only other difference is that I have dinner with only my best friend because our other friends are attending their night classes.

Thursday

Thursdays are fairly chill for me. Similar to Tuesday, I head into work at the CAST office for a few hours. I don’t have any classes on Thursdays, so I spend it reading for the next week. Despite not having classes, Thursdays are probably my most productive days. I sit and try to finish everything that needs to be done by Sunday, and then get prepared for the next week so that I can have a relaxing weekend.

Friday

I, like most people, love Fridays! I only have two classes, both in the morning. This means that I am done for the day by 12:05 PM. All I need to do afterwards are the things that I did not manage to finish the day before. After my work is done, I get to unwind from a long week and focus on taking time for myself.

Weekend

My weekends are reserved for spending quality time with my friends, doing laundry, and grocery shopping. I do all my grocery shopping with my friends, and we even pick up stuff to go down to the community kitchen in our residence hall and cook our “family dinners” at least once a week. I highly recommend this practice! It’s super fun and you get yummy food. Other than that, I like to spend time doing some self-care on Sundays in order to prep myself for the week to come.

Takeaways

While I am studying Communication here at MSU, I think my weekly life is applicable for the average student at MSU, regardless of major. The most important thing you should take from this is that while it is so important to apply yourself and work hard, it is also vital to set time to relax. Work hard when you need to, but be sure to take breaks! This is just a general overview of a typical week in my life, but things aren’t always this smooth. Some weeks are harder than others, and there are rough times, like we all have. Scheduling time to relax and unwind during the good times will make you better prepared to deal with the stress when it comes.

Thank you, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading! I will leave you with a quote from Tina Turner,

“You must love and care for yourself because that’s when the best comes out.”

 

(Bio: My name is Georgia Grace Wright, a junior at MSU majoring in Communication Studies. I also have minors in both Creative Writing and Anthropology.)

Getting Ready for Midterms (Spring 2022, Week 8)

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Midterms Are Coming

Around this point in the semester, I can feel the stress coming on. The thought of our midterm exams is something easy to stress about, but can be manageable if prepared for correctly! Today, I want to share some easy strategies to help you get ready for your midterms this spring semester!

Better to be Early than Late

Everyone knows that it is better to be early than late in many situations. Luckily, studying for midterms is no different. Even though some classes may not have midterms for a couple weeks, it is a good idea to start studying early. This is due to a lot of reasons such as:

  • Allowing more time to cover content thoroughly
  • Better metacognition or being aware of what you do and don’t know
  • Reduced anxiety about not having enough time to study
  • Better chance at doing well on the exam

Even though it’s difficult to get going early, give it a try and see if it works for you!

Find a Study Buddy

Believe it or not, you aren’t the only one stressed about midterms. Your classmates are too! Because of this, it is a great idea to find others to study with. Being able to work with you classmates can allow you to:

  • Keep each other motivated to study
  • Learn about how other people understand content, which can also help you
  • Divide up work to make it less daunting on everyone
  • Teach each other content, which is one of the best ways to learn

Working alone can be scary and stressful, so try and reach out to a couple peers to see if you can study together for you upcoming midterms

Stay Organized

With everything going on around this time, it is good to stay organized. It’s common to have more than one midterm a week, and maybe even some on the same day. Because of this, it is good to keep things organized. Some ways to do this are:

  • Keeping a schedule of all the exams you will take
  • Listing out the content that needs to be covered for each exam
  • Scheduling time dedicated to studying
  • Making space for taking breaks during preparation for exams

Being able to stay organized won’t only make you do better, but it can also help reduce the stress that you will feel approaching test day!

As always, thank you so much for reading my post and I hope this gives you some helpful ways to prepare for midterms this spring. Have a great day!

Previous Posts for Midterm and Exam Preparation

Spring 2021 Finals Week – Alexandria

Spring 2021 Week 14 – Michael

Fall 2020 Week 10 – Michael

Fall 2020 Midterm – Rhiannon

 

(BIO: My name Is Michael Rexroad, a transfer student from Metropolitan Community College in Kansas City. I am a senior currently studying cell and molecular biology with a minor in chemistry and biomedical science.)

Networking with Peers and Instructors (Spring 2022, Week 7)

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Can you believe it? Spring break is literally two weeks away already! I will be making sure to have fun when I can and finish strongly in all my courses during the remainder of the semester.  

Networking with Peers and Instructors 

Switching back to being an in-person student after being an online student for so long has turned out to be quite a challenge. The transition has been helping me to grow and figure out just how much I have changed after being a student for so long. One thing that I have always struggled with was meeting new people and maintaining those potential relationships or connections that I could make. Being on campus at Missouri State quickly made me realize I’m in charge of interacting and communicating with other people, not someone else. In this post, I wanted to share some of my tips for networking with your peers and instructors that can help you out if you get stuck.  

Instructors  

Attend office hours 

Your instructors or professors have office hours so students can discuss the course material, ask questions, and even genuinely just learn more about each other. Office hours give you the opportunity to have one-on-one time with your professor that you would not have in the classroom so you can learn even more about your professor.  

Email them  

Email your professors if you have questions about a specific area of expertise that they are knowledgeable about or even to let them know how the course lectures or material are working out for you.  

Ask for advice/help 

Instructors and professors come from all walks of life and have their degrees in addition to their careers to show for it. Have a conversation with your instructors about your own career path or ask about the real-life experiences that you will encounter outside the classroom. 

Peers 

Start conversations

Even if it is just in passing sometimes it works out to speak with people or even just be polite to someone and hold a door for them. The Missouri State campus is so huge and there are lots of people that you can get to know by just starting a random conversation. You never know what will happen until you try.  

Make groups 

Try creating a group with your classmates or connecting with each other on social media platforms. You can connect with people that have similar interests and potentially make some long-lasting relationships with people. This also helps if you have questions regarding a class that you are in with people. You could even create a study group with them.  

Find common interests  

It might be hard to just talk to random people, especially if you are shy or have some social anxiety like me so try to find someone that you could talk to about something that you like or enjoy as well. You can find a student organization that matches your interests and connects with other people through the Office of Student Engagement.  

Takeaways  

I really wanted to give these tips because when I was a freshman at Missouri State University, I was struggling to just talk to people. I learned that I was not helping myself by being afraid and limiting who I was communicating with on campus. Meeting new people and networking with them has become such a fun thing to do and some great people have become a part of my life because of these tips. Networking helps you on so many levels whether that is socially or professionally so try not to be as afraid as I was to start. 

These tips keep me on my toes and upgrade my social skills over time so I hope that they can yield some positive results for you all.  

Happy Week Seven!!! 

~Alexandria 

(Bio: I’m the middle child of seven kids in my immediate family. I’m currently a Senior Business major at Missouri State University.)