Every day, students across the nation strap on backpacks they may or may not have forgotten to close as they panic dress in whatever smells inoffensive, and drag themselves to class.
After a typical school day, a biathlon of 50 minute lectures and 10 minute jogs to more lectures, students are loaded up with pieces of school to take home with them, padding out their nights with more of the same. However, while they may be inundated with building workloads, students still find time keep themselves working through friday
1. "Doing homework? Do 10 minutes of yoga for a breather. At work? Do some yoga on your break. In class? Same thing!"
Nursing student Katy Reihl of Santa Rosa Junior Collage, peppers her class schedule with short, simple yoga sessions before returning to a day of catheterizing cadaver dummies.
On the clock, Reihl tends to stick to basic poses that can be done without having to make room in her backpack to smash a yoga instructor between a mat and medical books.
2."It doesn't have to be anything weird looking or complicated, and you don't have to have skin-tight yoga pants on to do it."
For some, it's as simple as taking time out of their day to connect with friends on campus. Ole Miss freshman, Jakiria Blunt manages to top off her daily schedule with social outings at school-sponsored events.
3."I tend to hang out with my friends often, being involved with them like going out to different events the school has because that's always a good way to cope with school work and everything else."
Blunt normally tries to get her work done before the evening, providing her with the rest of the night for activities. Anytime, academic need outgrows Blunts system, she's quick to drop everything to head into the avalanche of paperwork.
4."School work always comes first. If you know you're failing the class, and you know your friends are going out to a party, you gotta tell your friends 'see you later, babe, I have work to do.' So make sure work is first."
Blunt's front loading strategy is shared with fellow freshman, Cameron Bracey, who commits himself to bulldozing class obligations out of the way to pave a clear evening.
5."I make sure I do all my work in study hall, like two hours a day, he said. "It's easier to do it in the day, when you have to do it, instead of waiting to decide to do it."
For some, extracurricular passions can take more time than students intended. Former engineering student of Cal Poly, Philip Tran ran into just this problem.
In the first two years during the frantic crawl toward an engineering degree, Tran took up weightlifting as a secondary passion.
6."It was a way for me to get away from school work and life honestly,"
It was during a point in Tran's college career he described as one where he lost focus, pouring more time into hobbies as the semesters dragged on.
7."Essentially I'd give up study time to lift, etc. Not a good idea."
Change came gradually to Tran, as the workload he faced down on his way through, grew too big to ignore.
8."I realized my goals and became more focused and consumed by school that I no longer needed to do such coping,"
For him, making it to the end of the week became less about forgetting the work, and focusing on what the piles of papers were pushing him toward. Tran said that thinking about that was the best thing for him in staying on task throughout the weeks.
