A Bear's Life: Student Stories

Student stories from our peer counselors

Archives for November 2023

Success Coach Introduction – Part 1 (Fall 2023, Week 13)

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Welcome back Missouri State Bears! This week I wanted to take the chance to start a new series introducing our Success Coaches in the Center for Academic Success and Transition (CAST) office. Our success coaches are a helpful resource to students and this is a chance to meet those who all work in our office. 

What is a Success Coach?

A success coach is a graduate student interested in helping undergraduate students succeed. Our success coaches can help with academic skills such as meeting deadlines, time management, goal setting and reaching, test preparation, and identifying strengths and weaknesses. You can use the form to meet with a success coach. This semester we are lucky to have fourteen coaches with a variety of backgrounds and available times to meet that work with you and your schedule. 

Emily Oster
Photo by Jesse Scheve/Missouri State University

Emily Oster

The first success coach I want to introduce is Emily. Emily received her undergrad at Missouri State University and is continuing to work towards her master’s in Speech-Language Pathology. When I asked Emily if she had any tips for first-generation students her reply was “Be proactive rather than reactive. Advocate for yourself early and get ahead!” 

I find Emily’s tip very timely at this point in the semester because for many students this is the time of year when change is occurring. Grades are coming out, schedules are being made, living arrangements are assigned, and more. In these situations, it is vital that organization and time management are used. Success coaches can help with managing all of these things. 

Emily believes students should reach out to a success coach/peer mentor because “we are here to help with the transition from high school to college life. The new lifestyle changes as a first-time college student can be confusing and hard. We are students just like you, so we were just in your shoes not too long ago. We are just here to guide you along the way, answer any questions, and hold you accountable.” 

To end Emily’s introduction off on the right note I asked her for the strangest thing in her backpack and it was a deck of cards. I also asked for a slogan and Emily created “coffee with a side of life.” Emily, among our other success coaches, does a great job and wants to see all Missouri State Bears succeed. 

 

Kyra Baker
Photo by Jesse Scheve/Missouri State University

Kyra Baker

The second success coach I am highlighting today is Kyra. Kyra moved to Missouri State University after completing her undergraduate at a different university. Kyra is here to study Industrial-Organizational Psychology (M.S.). When it was Kyra’s turn for a tip to undergraduate students she said, “Asking for help is a sign of strength and courage, not weakness.”

I personally needed to hear this so I am thankful for Kyra and her wisdom as an asset to our office. Asking for help can seem like an obstacle but it shouldn’t have to. Here in the CAST office, we are here to serve students who need or want help. 

I asked Kyra as well, why students should request a success coach. “College is hard, but you don’t have to go through it alone. Success coaches and peer mentors are a stable source of assistance throughout your college experience, and they genuinely want to help you accomplish your college goals. Never feel bad for advocating for yourself by asking for the help you need to reach your goals!”

The weirdest item in Kyra’s backpack was a pair of soaking wet socks from the torrential downpour of rain. I asked this question because knowing that success coaches are just like us can make us feel more comfortable approaching them. Kyras’s slogan would be, “Unleash your potential” or “Do you have any chocolate?”

 

Takeaways

Although I only introduced two success coaches today, we have fourteen coaches in total. If anything from this post stuck out to you or you want to meet the other coaches, you can navigate our website and find them listed under the staff tab or keep an eye out for future blog introductions. I hope your biggest takeaway from this post is that our success coaches are here for our students and they want to be a helping hand. 

~Aubrey

(Bio: My name is Aubrey Hardy, a junior studying special needs education. Fun fact: I grew up on a farm.)

How I Manage My Time (Fall 2023, Week 12)

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Hello again, Bears! I am happy to be back for another blog post. This week, I thought I would take the opportunity to talk about something that I have struggled with throughout my college career: time management. Have you ever found yourself at 10 o’clock at night asking yourself “Where did the day go?” If so, we are a lot alike. There are many ways that you can conquer time management, and you might already have your set strategy. However, if after midterms or at this point in the semester you are second-guessing yourself or find that you need a new time management plan, you might benefit from my personal time management strategy. Here is what I like to do if I find myself at the end of day asking where the day has gone.  

Knowing My Commitments

Whenever I reach a particular moment where I feel like I’ve lost touch with my time, the first thing that I do is make sure that I know how much of my time I need to devote to all of my commitments. This usually looks like making a list of everything that I have or want to do, like class, work, studying, or hobbies and self-care. I am a visual person, so it helps me to have everything physically written out on a piece of paper. At that point, I usually write out any time that absolutely has to be given to something. For example, I’ll write down when I have class or work, as well as how much time each day I know I need to spend doing homework. Even if I don’t end up making a strict schedule or routine for myself, I find that being conscious of how much time I am spending doing certain things still helps me manage my time much better.  

Deciding My Priorities

When I figure out how much time I have outside of specific commitments, I’m left with an amount of time that I can delegate to whatever I want. This is when deciding what my priorities are comes into play. What I consider a priority can change depending on what I’m doing or what I’m involved in at any given time, but regardless of what they are, I make sure to set aside amounts of time left over from the previous step to be dedicated to those priorities. Lately, my priorities have been self-care, studying, writing, and spending time with my new cat! However, if I have a set of exams coming up, my priorities may change, and I might decide to spend more time studying than writing. The opposite also applies—if I find that I’ve been stressed out lately, I’ll tend to prioritize self-care over studying if I know that I’m in a good place academically. Either way, consistently reflecting on my priorities also aids me with managing my time, even if I don’t follow through with the next step.

Making a Routine

Once I rediscover my current commitments and priorities, I like to sit down and make a routine for myself. It isn’t usually super structured, mostly because I don’t like it to be that way, but even the loosest of structures helps me. Even if you’re like me and don’t like to have things strictly scheduled, a light routine might still benefit you, because it takes away the mental task of deciding what to do at a given time. For example, I like to schedule my time in blocks. In my current routine, I give myself an hour each night for homework or writing. If I come home from school or work that day and I know I have a lot of homework that day or coming up soon, I’ll typically use that time to do homework, but there are also days where I don’t and I choose to write instead. After that, I take a break from schoolwork or writing, and I give myself two hours of free time. I can essentially do whatever I would like, whether that be reading, watching TV, spending time with my cat, or sometimes I continue to do homework or write if I feel inclined to do so. The nice thing about creating your own routine is that you decide what it looks like, and you can also change it at any time if you’re having a hard time sticking with it or you’re unsatisfied with the amount of time that you’re dedicating to a specific thing.  

Takeaways

Even if you already have your time management plan set in stone, I hope you enjoyed learning more about mine. I think that it can be beneficial to learn about how other peers conquer the challenges that college brings, and if you’re wanting to learn more about my strategies or the strategies of the other amazing Peer Mentors and Success Coaches, come visit us in the CAST office! We are now offering drop-in hours on Tuesdays from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. and Wednesdays from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., so don’t hesitate to come see us if you are struggling or if you just want to talk. You can also request a Success Coach or Peer Mentor by filling out our Request Form. I hope that you continue to have a successful semester, and I will see you again soon in a future post! 

~Hallie 

(Bio: I am a junior out-of-state student studying Creative Writing with a minor in Philosophy.)