University of Dayton - MyLife

A Good Start to a New Semester

Day 2 of syllabus day is over! That means it's time to actually start doing homework. Fortunately, my roommates and I are already off to a pretty impressive start to the semester. Today when I got home from work, I came home to a pretty quiet house and everyone's face was either buried in a book or they were doing something else productive. That definitely helped motivate me, so I went upstairs and started my homework, too!

This past Sunday our school hosted the New Student Transfer Orientation and I helped out with the event since I am part of the orientation program here. When one of the doctors from the counseling center was discussing different aspects of college with the parents and new students, one word he kept emphasizing really stuck out to me: balance. He talked about how, in college, it is necessary to balance work, play, and sleep. It's a simple concept, but it's a valuable thing to learn early in your college career.

When I look back at freshman year, I see how out of balance my priorities were. I definitely made my work and sleep take a backseat to the fun I was having. For instance, I would focus more on my extracurriculars than my actual school work or I worried more about visiting my friends' dorms than studying for an exam. And then when I did have that big final to study for, I thought it was a good idea to stay up all night with coffee to cram. I quickly learned my lesson from that, and my G.P.A. from my first year sure reflected the order of my priorities.

At the same time, however, UD is not the type of place where you can just study all the time and not be involved in anything else. This is where the balance comes in. Yes, the reason we are at college is to be educated. But we need to remember that it's about educating the WHOLE person, not just the academic part of us. The things I've learned and experienced these past two and half years at UD go well beyond the classroom. Just through working on campus and being involved in service organizations to studying abroad for a month and taking leadership positions in different groups, I've gained life experience that will benefit me way past my time at UD.

That's what I plan to keep in mind during this next semester: balance. That means I better go be studious and get my homework done so I can sleep a sufficient amount and have fun with all the other things going on!

Jan 8, 2008 10:27 PM Permalink