Michael Rexroad, Author at A Bear's Life: Student Stories - Page 2 of 4

A Bear's Life: Student Stories

Student stories from our peer counselors

The Importance of General Education (Fall 2021, Week 15)

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What Do You Mean General?

Over the years I have spent time meeting with students and talking about their coursework as part of my job. One common theme I see is some students do not always enjoy the idea of general education requirements for every degree. Usually this is because students are interested in their major area and are not as passionate about additional coursework that falls outside of that area. In light of this subject, today I want to share with you why general education can actually be just as useful as your major coursework. Maybe this post will even make you feel more excited for general education!

Skills That Can Be Adapted Elsewhere

A fact that I think is often overlooked is that each course we take in college teaches us something, regardless of the course. Even if it is not a field related to your major directly, it can go a long way. For example, all majors have some requirement for English. Now, it’s fairly obvious that we need to be able to read and write, but English courses can also give us skills we may need for a job one day. A pre-medical student can benefit from English classes because they may have to become proficient in reading articles in medical journals or reports from other doctors or in writing such journal articles or reports. Even reading or writing prescriptions will benefit from skills learned in an English class. Similarly, a business student may benefit from advanced writing skills when composing professional-level business letters and proposals. And the best part is this value can come from any class! Remember that even if a class falls outside of your comfort zone, it will always benefit you somehow.

Community Engagement

As we all know, one of the pillars of Missouri State’s public affairs mission is community engagement. This revolves around the idea of becoming individuals that use our Missouri State education and the opportunities we are given to find a way to contribute to the community and make a change. What if I told you general education is a great way to become better at this pillar? Part of community engagement is being able to work with others. General education helps with this by making us more diverse in the knowledge we hold, which in turn helps us to work better with others in the community. For example, a student in History may be interested in historical events related to science. Learning about these events, including talking to professionals in the science field, will be easier if that history student has some background knowledge of science. Maybe taking a general education class in science is what sparked the student’s interest in historical science events! General education allows us to become more versatile in the things we know and the people we can work with! In this way, we are then able to engage more in the community and have a bigger impact.

General May Not Be So General

I hope this brief discussion has made you feel a little better about general education, or maybe even helped you realize how great it is that we get to learn so much! For more about our General Education program, Missouri State’s General Education web pages have detailed background and information. Remember that the things we learn are important and can always go a long way in making us better students, but also making us better Bears!

As always, thank you for reading!

(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 sciences.)

Why You Should Meet with a Peer Mentor (Fall 2021, Week 10)

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Why Should You Meet with a Peer Mentor?

My goal for every blog post is to share experiences and give helpful tips that readers can use to be successful. This is related to my job as a Peer Mentor!* A main focus of my job is to help students find academic and personal success here at MSU. Today, I want to share a few things about why meeting with a peer mentor is a great idea and how it might benefit you!

We Are Here for You

When a student meets with a peer mentor, our goal will be to find ways to address issues that may be bothering the student. We always take the time to get to know the people we meet with and understand how the situation may be affecting their success. When it comes to making a solution, it’s all about what the student wants to do, not what we think! Throughout a meeting, we talk about goals, future directions and changes that the student is comfortable making that could improve the situation.

What Can We Do?

Peer mentors have many methods for aiding a student. Peer mentors have skills in meeting one-on-one with students, which allow us to hold good conversations, maintain good listening skills and use the conversation to reach an overall goal for the student. Along with this, we have a good knowledge of campus resources and faculty, so we can connect students with other resources that could help the student find answers.

How and When Can You See a Peer Mentor?

  1. Let us know you are interested by filling out the peer mentor request form.

If you have more questions or need assistance with the form, you can email CAST@MissouriState.edu or come by Meyer Library 116.

  1. Set up a time to meet with us.

After we receive your request to meet with a peer mentor, we’ll contact you to set up a meeting. We do our best to be flexible and find the best time for you. We’ll meet however works best for you!

  1. Come back and see us again.

After our meeting, you will be able to go off and do awesome! However, always feel free to come back and let us know how you are doing or even tell us other ways we can help you.

I hope this gives you a good idea about what a peer mentor can do and how this could be beneficial to your own success. If you have more questions, feel free to come by the office or email us! As always, thank you for reading.

*My job title changed recently from Peer Counselor to Peer Mentor; you may see the Peer Counselor title used in older blog posts.

(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.)

Preparing for Life Post-Graduation (Fall 2021, Week 8)

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Wherever the Road Takes Me

College is all about learning, meeting new people and preparing for a career one day. In some cases, so much goes on over those four (or more) years of undergrad that we forget it ends at some point. During that time, it’s easy to lay back and hope that we end up where we are supposed to be. Having a good plan, however, can help ensure we’ll get there! Today I want to share some ways to start thinking about the future and tips to prepare for life post-graduation.

Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years?

This is a common question asked during job interviews, but also a good one to help you think about life post-graduation. For some students, it is not an easy decision. A medical student may want to be a surgeon or physician; a business student may want to work in finance or business management. The first big step is figuring out what you could see yourself doing. Each of us has unique skills and personalities that will fit somewhere. And in a lot of ways, it is easy to see yourself doing something that sounds fun or interesting.

Experiencing a particular job can be a useful way to figure out if that job would be a good choice for you. This can include internships, meeting with a professional in a certain field or shadowing hours. For any future job, it is important to know what you’re getting into. You may figure out that a job you didn’t think you would like is actually a great fit for you!

How Do I Start Looking?

  • My Career Path on your MSU account
    • MSU’s Career Center has lots of excellent resources for exploring careers, including assistance searching for internships and related experiences.
    • On your Missouri State account, you can go to the student tab, scroll to the bottom and find the My Career Path section. Here you will find resources such as your Missouri State Handshake account, programs at MSU and even a direct link to the Career Center where you can make meetings!

Image shows the My Career Path tab in the student section of a My Missouri State account. Below it gives options to search for internships and full-time jobs, explore graduate programs at MSU, plan your career, access LinkedIn learning, GoinGlobal country career guides, and GoinGlobal USA city career guides.

  • Talk with your academic advisor
    • Academic advisors meet with and see hundreds of students graduate every year. Advisors have a lot of information on what helps students succeed, what opportunities are available, where internships and shadowing are open, and more!
  • Talk with your professors
    • To me, professors are a highly overlooked resource for guidance on career exploration. They are professionals in the fields they teach, making them banks of knowledge about the things you may be wondering about.

A Clear Path

After getting experience and talking with different people, it can become much clearer where you want to end up in the future. You can then plan whether you want (or need) to go to graduate school, medical school, training programs or other post-graduation education or if you’ll be ready to get into the job field immediately after graduating.

Deciding on your future isn’t something that always comes easy. So, when you are out there trying to figure out where you may end up after graduation, make sure you take your time and choose something that you will enjoy!

(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.)

Peer-to-Peer Interactions (Fall 2021, Week 6)

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Feeling Alone in a Campus Full of Students

I think many people have heard the saying, “I feel like I am alone in a room full of people.” Usually when someone says this, they mean that, regardless of how many others are around, they still feel alone. This is an experience that I think some MSU students, including me, can relate to every once in a while. Because of this, it is important for us to have peer-to-peer interactions, which can come in many ways. Today I will talk about two that can help you work together with other students to be successful!

Two Brains are Better Than One

How much do you think you know about something? How much more do you know than somebody else? Does another student know the same things as you? Questions like these are one reason working with other students is important. During our academic career, we are faced with boundless amounts of content, and sometimes it can be a lot for one person to handle. A good way to deal with this is studying with others. Studying with other students has multiple benefits including:

  • Each person involved can share their own personal view on a subject.
  • This can help others gain further understanding of a concept from seeing it in a new way.
  • Teaching each other is one of the best ways to learn.
  • The knowledge of multiple people overall makes everyone gain more extensive understanding of the subject being studied.

Picking regular times and places to study with others, staying after class to have brief discussions with other students and even group chats are all easy ways to make studying with other students happen. And each way will make every participant a better student over time. So, if you’re the kind of person who likes to make group chats for all your classes, keep it up!

It’s Hard to Give Yourself a Pat on the Back

As you may have experienced by now, college can be a very stressful time. In light of this stress, there’s nothing better than talking to someone else about what may be occupying your thoughts. Bottling up your stress can keep you up at night, mess with your diet, make you struggle to learn and affect you in other ways. However, a beautiful thing about MSU is that you will meet so many people, some who could become lifelong friends, some who may be in a similar situation and can understand your concerns. When you talk to friends or others about stressful situations, it can help with:

  • Mental clarity
  • Creating more capacity to focus on studying
  • Relaxing
  • Higher contentment
  • Building good relationships

As a peer counselor/mentor, I can tell you that there is always someone around who will understand and relate to your situation. This is why you should never feel ashamed to be stressed or confused about something. It’s okay to share your concerns with others.

Don’t Be Afraid to Reach Out

I hope this gives you a better idea of why it is so important to talk and work with others during your time as a student. Practice reaching out to others and forming those connections so you can work together to become even better students. Good luck!

(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.)

My Time Has Come (Fall 2021, Week 4)

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My Time Has Come

For three years now I have gone through my academic career as a Cell and Molecular Biology student, and it has been a great ride. The connections, relationships and experiences I have had make me happy I chose this major! However, the end is coming near for me. This is the time when seniors must make a big decision about what comes next. In my case, I am applying to graduate school to enter a Genetic Counseling program.

Senior Year: Part 2

This time of my life is like redoing my senior year of high school when I had to choose a university for my undergrad years! I am deciding where I will go, sending transcripts and planning to fill out applications. Although stressful, it has been a fun time. In this blog post, I want to share what this process is like right now and in the future hopefully I can share the end result!

The Big Decision

I am going into Genetic Counseling, a medical genetics-based job that includes working one-on-one with patients to help them determine risk and causes of genetic diseases. My first big choice is the school. This will be based on where I would like to live during the two-year program, what kind of clinical rotations are available, specific focuses in coursework (bioethics, prenatal, research) and how much I like the university in general. All these factors must be taken into account so that I, or any other student, end up at a school that fits my style, career goals and personal preferences for emphasis. Determining all these things about a graduate school requires a lot of online research into the programs’ admissions requirements, coursework and physical locations/cities and emailing staff at the university with questions.

Every Good Paper Has Sources and References

Like any good paper, a student who wants to enter graduate school must have sources and references to back them up. For graduate school, these “sources” include CVs/resumes, transcripts and personal statements:  anything that gives the school’s admissions some information about who you are. “References” for a student are letters of recommendation, which allow admissions to get a view of who you are from an outside source (another person). These two things are very important to an application because the graduate schools need to get an idea of how you perform, what you have done, why you deserve to attend and how you display yourself to those around you.

The Present and Future

So, right now I am in the process of finding out where I will go and getting together all of these documents and letters to set up my process. For anyone who is considering graduate school, I want you to know that, even though it is a scary process, it will pay off. Later this year, once I have done my applications and interviews, I plan to come back and share with you all what the journey was like. As always, thank you for reading!

(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.)