Category: College Life

No student wants to perform poorly in academics. However, poor academic performance is becoming increasingly common. So, what if you unexpectedly fail a course? Does it mean the end of your dream of emerging as the best graduating student of your department? Absolutely not! Under such an unexpected scenario, the first thing to do is to accept responsibility. No matter how difficult the class may be, no matter how bad the professor may be in giving his or her lecture, the truth remains that you are entirely responsible for your failure. So you must first and foremost accept responsibility and then commit yourself to a plan to change.

Whether your grades dropped, you’re failing a class, or you’re simply not achieving your target grade, it is never too late or too early to apply certain changes to your studying habits. Don’t ever give up or be taken aback. There are still several ways through which you can remain on track.

Firstly, try to pay more attention when the lesson is going on. In most cases, professors normally give some hints on areas students ought to concentrate on prior to exams. Also, ensure that you adequately understand the topics being taught by the professors instead of going home and struggling to make sense out of what was taught in the class. Secondly, always ask questions whenever you are confused during the lectures. Thirdly, take notes when the lecture is still in progress. Such notes can be a useful source of information when you are still preparing for exams. Lastly, make sure to do some revisions before the exam day. In this case, you have to review your notes and books and you should even take some mock exams. Mock exams help you to realize which areas you need to work harder on. You must also avoid procrastination and shun writing your essay the night before the due date. Doing your assignment at the last hour will merely increase your workload and this will have a detrimental effect on your overall performance.

Lower than expected grades will leave you disappointed and you may end up feeling disappointed in yourself. However, such an attitude is not healthy for you. In the midst of all these uncertainties, it is very imperative to display a positive attitude toward learning. Thus, you must endeavor to defeat any depressive feeling with positivity. You must strive to approach any unexpected challenge positively. This is the surest way to change your situation for the better. In order to avoid any reoccurrence, you can go ahead and hire a private tutor, It is not a shameful thing to ask for help. In conclusion, the best way to deal with any unexpected situation is to accept responsibility and then work toward achieving more.

Secrets to early graduation from college

Currently, the yearly tuition fee for most top private colleges hovers around $60,000, while many public colleges cost up to $50,000 per year. With financial aid. a considerable proportion of students have been able to minimize the cost of their education. Another obvious way to minimize college costs is by graduating early from the institutions. For instance, you can save tens of thousands of dollars by finishing in college in three or three and half years.

How is this possible? Colleges typically consist of four classes per semester. Thus, in every academic session, you are most likely to take eight classes. In order to graduate early. all you have to do is to acquire eight classes worth of credit. There are various ways you can accomplish this. Firstly, your early graduation from college can possibly begin in high school. In fact, high school is the best place to prepare adequately for early graduation. In some high schools, the students can take college-level courses for actual credit. This is usually carried out in conjunction with some community colleges. If you take one or two college classes in high school, you may no longer be required to take those courses in college. Additionally, you can possibly get a few general education requirements out of the way so you can pursue classes in your chosen field.

Another secret to early graduation from college is to take as many AP courses as possible. In many American colleges, a high score of 4 and 5 will earn you course credit, without you actually having to take the relevant classes on campus. You can also enjoy this benefit by taking IB courses and some other advanced placement exams. In some colleges, there are placement exams in subjects like math, language, and writing. If you are able to fulfill the requirements specified by these placement exams, you may be able to graduate early, Another secret to early graduation from college is to participate in community college courses for general education classes like psychology, writing, introduction, and history. In many cases, the course credits acquired from these courses are transferable. Thus, if you have the dream of graduating early from college, you must enroll in such courses and acquire as many credits as possible. However, you must first check with the Registrar to confirm the courses that are transferable. Lastly, you can boost your chances of graduating early from college by taking the maximum number of credits that is permissible in every semester. With strong work ethic, you can gain more course credits than the average student.

Things to do before you graduate college

Even though college is primarily an institution of higher learning, it can actually be a place of fun. There are lots of recreational and fun activities that are specifically designed for your social wellbeing. Consequently, there are many things many students want to do before graduating from college. This ranges from streaking to blind dating. In this section, a list of wild things many students do before graduating from college is presented. This list will guide every student through the events of the next year, irrespective of whether they have been too outrageous or composed. As a student, you always have to remember that college is the best time of your life.

Thus, you must strive to make the most of it.

Below are wild things, which you may want to do before graduating from college.

1. ** You have to get yourself mentally and physically prepared for the madness that is known as a senior week. It is advisable to take full advantage of all of the senior week activities for the fun of it.
2. “+ Youcan have a sleepover with your friends because chances are you’ll never live in such close proximity again,
3. ** Have a good cry session with your best friends.
4. • Do a stupid college thing that you typically wouldn’t do.
5. ** Go ahead and doa keg stand, because it won’t look as cute when you’re 40,
6. “+ Participate in one school tradition. It could be the undie run, block parties, or fountain run, etc.
7. “+ Take a snap with your school mascot. You will want to save these pictures for your kids in the future.
8. ** Take aclass that has nothing to do with your major.
9. ** Sneak onto the highest roof on campus and enjoy the nature that surrounds your college
10. “* Dedicate one Saturday to party with your friends. 118
11. “+ Pull an all-nighter for non-academic reasons.
12. ** Offer free hugs in the middle of your quad
13. ** Get decked out in your school colors and go to homecoming.
14. ** Burst into your school’s fight song at a campus bar. Watch as the entire bar sings along.
15. • Attend a student protest or demonstration
16. ** Cram 50 people in your tiny dorm room for a surprise birthday party.
17. “+ Go to an open mic, Get inspired and perform something.
18. ** Go to at least one campus a cappella concert, one college improve show, and one major student-run theater production.
19. ** Take a campus tour of your own campus.

Stupid things students do that can prevent early graduation

There are lots of issues that can trigger poor academic performance among college students. Some of these can be the various stupid things usually carried out unconsciously by students. Since it is the ultimate objective of every student to study hard and come out of college in flying colors, it is imperative to look at those actions that can prevent one from graduating early from college, which incidentally are associated with unsuccessful students. So, what are those foolish behaviors that must be avoided by any college students that want to graduate early?

Firstly, unsuccessful students are known to seldom interact with their instructors or answer questions in class. This is a very bad behavior that may make it impossible for you to graduate early from college.

Secondly, it is also bad to prioritize non-academic issues like organization activities, job obligations, personal issues, etc., instead of focusing primarily on your academics. Such a strategy will only make you fall some courses and spend more years in college.

Unsuccessful students are known not to take responsibility for their academic failures. Unfortunately, such action can be detrimental to their quest to graduate early from college. If you fail any course, don’t shift the blame to other people, instead you should accept your mistakes and adopt strategies that will enable you to avoid any repetition,

Not paying absolute attention during lectures is another bad habit that will inevitably result to failure and delay your graduation from college. Some students exhibit the habit of playing with the media devices when the lecture is still going on. Such distraction will definitely make it impossible for you to concentrate in your note-taking or participation in ongoing discussions or lectures. Not only do such activities distract students from learning the course material that is being covered, but sends a powerful negative message to instructors about the commitment and discipline of the student.

Engaging in academic dishonesty is another stupid action that can prevent college students from graduating early. These include doing cut/paste from online sources, copying homework assignments and use of irrelevant references. Apart from robbing students of learning opportunities, these activities make it impossible for students to feel academically adequate. Above all, engaging in academic dishonesty exposes one to the risk of expulsion from the university.

Last submission of your assignments and papers is another stupid behavior that can delay your graduation from college. Delay and procrastination are well-known characteristics of unsuccessful students, Waiting for the last minute to begin your assignment will inevitably result to shoddy work, which may cause a significant loss of marks.

Not visiting your professors during their office hours is another bad behavior that may delay your graduation from college. This is because regular visitation will enable you to obtain some vital information that could possibly fast-track your graduation from college.

Poor attendance is another common mistake made by most students. If you truly want to graduate early and successfully from college as early as possible, you must endeavor to attend all the classes. The fact that your tutor doesn’t take roll call is not a good reason to miss your class. Instead, you can get useful information that may be instrumental to your graduation during lectures.

Any action that demonstrates poor time management skills is not only stupid, but also capable of delaying your graduation. As a college student, the numerous academic works and responsibilities may overwhelm you at one point in time. Consequently, it is very imperative to learn how to manage your time efficiently.

Another bad habit is over-reliance on other students. It is not very wise to depend exclusively on your friends’ notes for the lecture or rely on study groups for understanding what a lecture is all about. Study groups should serve as an effective technique for exam preparation but not as a medium of clarification. If you have any section of a lecture that is confusing to you, try and meet with your professor.

Lastly, it is unwise to treat college as a four-day activity that lasts from Monday to Thursday. Students with this perception usually attend the Friday class with their main focus on the weekend activities. For them, Friday and Sunday are for doing fun things. But the truth

remains that college is actually a full-time commitment that requires between 40-45 hours per week of class and out-of-class preparation, You should even consider Sunday evening as a school night.

Pros and cons of early graduation from college

Many undergraduates are taking huge advantages of taking AP and summer courses to finish up their higher education a considerably shorter time. Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages of graduating early from college. So, before considering early graduation, it is very imperative to consider the pros and cons of early graduation from college.

Pros of early graduation from college

An increasing number of college students are embracing early graduation from college as a result of the huge benefits that is associated with not following the traditional four-year model. Obviously, some of these factors may probably be among what motivate you to join the chorus.

The commonest pros of graduating early from the college are discussed as follows:

Saving on tuition costs- This is probably the main factor that motivates many to graduate early from college. In reality, early graduation from college can save tens of thousands of dollars for you, which is good with the skyrocketing costs of tuition. Such techniques enable you to avoid the issue of student debt, which has affected many students. Therefore, it is wise to avoid such a burden through early graduation.

Start job hunting as early as possible-Students who graduate early enough often have more time to prepare and get good job interviews. This is particularly true of December grads. By spring of the following year, such grads are most likely to have gotten a full-time position in a 122 reputable firm, Generally, early graduation also avails much time for writing cover letters and submitting job applications to various vacancies. The competition is typically lesser as you won’t have to deal with the huge number of graduates that will be applying for that same position by April and May.

Boost your real-life resume experiences: The extra semester you would have spent in the class can be used to gather other life experiences such as full-time internships, travel abroad, and volunteer work. Graduating early gives you more impressive credentials to set your resume apart from tons of other hopefuls because it shows that you’re dedicated, hard-working, and able to quickly accomplish your goals.

Cons of early graduation from college

Despite the numerous advantages of graduating early from college, there are still few demerits confronting early grads. Thus, it is also imperative to consider the two faces of the coin before taking a decision on the exact path to follow. The most popular disadvantages of graduating early from college are discussed as follows:

Having to deal with loan repayment- Banks will start calling you for loan repayments as soon as you are out of school. As a new graduate that is just out of school, this can be quite overwhelming for you. Thus, if you intend to graduate from college early, you must endeavor to use the last semester to work out a detailed payment schedule and financial plan for your future.

Not having enough access to the University Career Resources- Early graduation from college implies not having access to university resources, as well as. alumni networks that can be very helpful in linking students to prestigious job openings. In many colleges, online job databases, internship programs and career fairs are majorly available to students that are engaged on full- time basis. It is quite unfortunate that the majority of students are unaware of these programs, until after graduation. It becomes even more painful when you are among those that graduate early from college.

Having to leave friends and college fun earlier- There is a popular saying that college life is the best type of life. If this is true, then it means early graduation implies cutting this out quicker than you would have otherwise. By graduating early, you may feel like you missed out on some of the fun. Additionally, early graduation may also imply having less time to make memories with your college friends. Of course, missing out on senior send off events and other exclusive senior traditions are almost inevitable, too.

Add to senior stress: Many majors require final Capstone projects and all-college maturity requirements mandate that students must take twelve 300-level credits during senior year. While achievable, pulling these off in one semester isn’t exactly a breeze. Thus, you may end up subjecting yourself to lots of pressure in your quest to graduate early from college.

Dealing with your long-distance relationship

Life in college can be so hectic, as you unarguably have to deal with task of settling down and becoming accustomed to the chaotic lifestyle on campus. Under such situation, dealing with the strain of keeping a long-distance relationship becomes a problem. Despite the great difficulty in keeping such relationships alive, many students have no option but to give it a trial.

Some students are convinced they have found their true love and that they are definitely going to settle down as a married couple. If you happen to be among this category of students, how can you deal with this issue of a long-distance relationship? In this section, we provide practical-oriented tips on how you can deal with long-term relationships. These are discussed as follows:

Maintain a thoughtful connection: One effective way to sustain a long-distance relationship is by maintaining a thoughtful connection with your partner. You can accomplish this by sending a hand – written love note in the mail. Even though this is an old-fashioned technique, it is nevertheless effective in keeping the long-stance relationship alive. Additionally, such techniques more romantic and also feel more personal than the use of text messages and emails. You should endeavor to forward such messages once every couple of weeks alongside chocolates, flowers, gift baskets, and balloons.

Be positive: You can keep a long-distance relationship alive by focusing on the positive aspect of your separation. Research has indicated that couples that appreciate the positive aspects of their separation are more likely to remain together. As a college student, the positive aspect of this situation is to concentrate on taking advantage of educational opportunities, concentrating on your personal growth, and looking forward to reuniting with your significant other.

Be busy: Don’t waste your time expecting a text message or email from your heartthrob. You may end up getting frustrated and unnecessarily suspicious. Instead, stay busy by hanging out with friends, volunteering, joining clubs etc. Such companionship will help to strengthen your relationship and minimize the detrimental effects of depression and loneliness typically experienced by most individuals that are in a long-distance relationship.

Maintain the dates: In order to keep your long-distance relationship alive, you should try to keep all the telephone and online dates as scheduled. Such promptness enables your sweetheart to understand how you truly appreciate the time you spends together with her or him. Setting up the dates in advance builds excitement.

Share something in common with your heartthrob: You can have a long-distance movie date with your heartthrob. This can be done through the telephone. Some long-distance partners like to rent the same movie and consequently have something to discuss with together.

Use the webcam: It is actually great to talk with your lover on the phone. However, using modern technologies like webcam and video call have their own unique advantages. Fortunately, many of these services are offered free of charge by firms like Skype. Whatsapp, and even Facebook. You can spice things up by dressing up for your webcam dates. Try to schedule webcam chats every other night or so at specific times.

Visit them: No matter how tedious your academic work may be, it is imperative to plan a visit and get together with your significant other as much as possible.

Space to grow: Above all, you have to give each other some space to grow as individuals. Coincidentally, this is just like everything else in college, as it concentrates on growth and learning. Always accept change and don’t allow your relationship to limit you.

28 mistakes college students make

College is supposed to be some of the greatest years of a person’s life. It is a great time to make new friends, party hard, and improve your overall life skills. Even though you may probably strive for straight A’s, you’re bound to make mistakes. As a college student, you are absolutely responsible for yourself. Thus, it is very imperative that you mature a lot faster now that you are 126 on your own. Of course, you are bound to make some mistakes but while some mistakes can be avoided with a little common sense, others can be used as lessons.

Here is a list of mistakes college students may make:

1. “+ Treating college classes like high school classes
2. “+ Partying on Sundays
3. ** Not getting to know your professors
4. “+ Spending loan money inappropriately
5. ** Missing your classes
6. “* Not taking advantage of the library
7. “+ Not taking advantage of free things
8. ** Not reading the syllabus
9. ** | Majoring in something based on pay and not passion ** Taking on more than you can handle
10. “+ Trying to maintain your high school relationships ** Racking up credit card debt
11. “* Not meeting with Academic Advisers
12. “* Making poor academic decisions
13. ** Missing out on scholarships
14. “+ Abusing credit cards
15. • Not filling out applications for Federal Student Aid ** Being disorganized
16. “+ Not maintain a budget 127
17. “+ Skipping work
18. “+ Misusing student loans
19. ** Going out or partying regularly
20. “+ Having a car on campus when you cannot afford its maintenance
21. “+ Overspending on housing
22. “+ Failing to think outside of the box
23. “+ Spending too much time on social media platforms, such as, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
24. ** Procrastination, especially in regard to doing class assignments.

Remaining motivated throughout your college life

Basically, motivation is defined as an impulse, which prompts us to execute and accomplish what we propose. In other words, motivation is the motor that moves our world. It is crucial for your academic success as lack of motivation has been associated with difficulty in studying and staying focused. Students that have no motivation usually lack the internal impulse that prompts hardworking scholars to take action for academic excellence.

Without motivation, there won’t be any action. Motivation is necessary because it is what causes us to be proactive in our quest to seck resources that can guarantee our success. Therefore, for you to succeed in your academics, you must try to remain motivated throughout your college life. This is because motivation improves initiative, cognitive processing skills efforts, persistence, and overall performance of students. In this section, we provide a detailed description of how you can remain motivated throughout your entire college life.

What should be my source of motivation as a student?

As a student, you can only remain motivated throughout your college life, when you are fully aware of what your source of motivation should be. So what are those factors you should always look up to as your basis of inspiration? Well, such factors must relate to your main objectives of coming to the college in the first place. So the right elements of motivation should be goals, future earning goals, high-grade point average (GPA), and plans for an advanced or additional degree. A critical look at these factors revealed that GPA, advanced degree, and future earning

Deciding where to live is one of the most important and earliest decisions to be made by students at the time of joining the university. Usually, there are two prominent options, living with the family at home or living in the college dormitory. I have experience of living in both situations. These two living situations vary in many prominent aspects, such as privacy, responsibility, access to university facilities and many others. But in this essay I am going to compare the three aforementioned aspects.

Firstly, living in the dormitory has limited privacy in contrast to living at home. Most of the time, the personal space of a student in the dormitory is compromised. In the college dormitory, we have to share our room, kitchen, toilets and bathrooms with other students, unlike at the home. At home, we can dress casually, listen to loud music, and use the whole house for whatever we want and whenever we want. On the contrary, in the dormitory, we have to share our spaces, wear modest and decent clothes and put headphones to listen to music so that other students don’t get offended. And sometimes, we need to negotiate with our roommates in many situations, in turn, to live happily.

Secondly, the amount of responsibility is more when we live in the dormitory, unlike at home. While living at the dormitory, we have to cook our food, clean our clothes and room, do our dishes, manage time and money, etc. On the other hand, we get the food prepared and the clothes cleaned at home. And we do not have stress for managing time and money and doing dishes at home because our family takes care of these things. Being more responsible is not a liability, it’s an asset that will be useful in our professional career.

Thirdly, in terms of accessibility to university services, the dormitory is better than home. We can access many university facilities while living in the dorm, whereas it is not possible from the home. In the dorm, we have access to the gym, university Wi-Fi, bus for commuting between college and dorm, and study rooms. Conversely, we cannot get these facilities while living at our home. One interesting fact about university Wi-Fi is that we can access e-learning and edugate website even if it’s not broadcasting Internet signals. Unlike at home, we can’t get this benefit.

‘Where to live’ is the most stressful question for students during their student years. A student is the only one who can decide based on his preferences. Because the dormitory is the first place where we learn to live on our own and have lots of responsibilities, it is more advantageous for our upcoming future, in my opinion. Again, we should choose our places to live for studying wisely according to our priorities.

Abstract

There is nothing important more than our good health. Health is not just about physical or medical fitness, it is also about how people deal with their emotional, mental and relationship behaviour. There are various important factors that affect the health of students. Some of them include nutrition, exercise, stress management, depression, and overall health. To analyze the health status of student health in LPU, information was collected via a lifestyle questionnaire, a standard survey tool by Student health and lifestyle survey Edinburgh healthy university research project), (Deniozou, 2015). By making use of SPSS/PC (statistical package for the social sciences) computer data entry and analysis was undertaken. Data analysis combine of mean, standard deviation, frequency distributions, percentages, means, and crosstab followed by Chi-square test. There are two questionnaires in which first part consists of demographic data including the student’s gender, age, and weight and the second section consists of various aspects including stress, depression, weight, diet, exercise. The data is analyzed between the hostellers and day scholar’s student with the given six factors. Results: According to the data there are 62.6% male and 37.4% female, out of total there are 55.7% hostellers and 44.3% day-scholar students. The mean age of the student is 21.37 and the mean weight of the student is 62. The parameter of the stress of the hostellers via day scholar student is calculated via the Chi-square test and the p-value of the stress obtained by crosstab is 0.000896(>0.05). The p-value of depression calculated by crosstab is 0.472(>0.05). The p-value of exercise calculated by crosstab is 0.091(>0.05). For the diet habit according to the data, the p-value of serving fruits and vegetables per day calculated by crosstab is 0.6168(>0.05). The parameter of the descriptive weight of the students resulted in the p-value calculated by crosstab is 0.981(>0.05). According to the results, the overall health of the hosteller via day scholar’s student resulted in the p-value of overall health calculated by crosstab as 0.48388(>0.05).Conclusion: After the analysis of the results, the null hypotheses between day scholars/ hostlers with all these parameters are accepted except the factor of stress. The result shows that whether a student is a day scholar or a hostler they are having good health with respect to the observed factors. Only stress is a major factor which is analyzed more in hostellers as compared to a day scholar. The reason for this could be family support which plays an important aspect in everybody’s life.

Aim of project work

The main purpose of the study is to investigate the health and lifestyle of graduate, undergraduate and postgraduate students at the Lovely Professional University. When the students enter in the university life, it is a critical time of transition to develop and integrate health-related behaviour into their lives. The students not only face academic challenges in their academic years but also face challenges on how to maintain their health behaviour and lifestyle. A number of studies have been done on the impact on student lifestyle during their higher studies. To overcome these sudden changes in their life, it is observed that they usually use alcohol, suffer from insomnia, and get stressed, and even sometimes result in weight gain. Hence there is a need to find out what are the important health issues in student life. This could lead to finding out the way to improve student health and lifestyle by using the required facilities. The aim of this research is to find out the factors that are responsible for the good health of students. These factors include living-status, diet, exercise, safety measure, and many others.

Transition to college life

There have been many studies conducted measuring the health belief of university life. Change to college life is known to be an exciting as well as stressful time for youth. These changes include adjusting academic workload, new environment, new relationship, diet and many more. With these changes and responsibility, the student has greater freedom and control over their lifestyles. The student normally uses smoking, drinking, sedentary lifestyle, poor dietary intake and ignoring safety habits.

Some of the major changes in the student lifestyle when they enter in college life are as following

1. New environment and relationship: When the student jumps in the college they must adapt to a new environment, make a new relationship, getting sufficient rest. Students find the most challenging thing is to live with their roommates. College gives the opportunity to the student to interact and live with students who belong to a totally different culture and background. Compromise and communication can build a smoother transition in student life because the roommates may or may not develop a close friendship.
2. Greater personal freedom: Students will get more independence if they live on their own and can vary the choices made by their parents and teachers. The freedom given to the pupils should be a satisfying learning process.
3. More responsibility: As more personal freedom is given to the students so they should understand their responsibilities to manage their daily routine which includes eating, sleeping, exercising, and attend the classes. Students also have to face other complex tasks such as to take part in clubs and extra activities, balancing studying, socializing, and other related things.

Some common stressors faces by the students are as following

1. Time management: Like in the school, students have not more eight hour classes and the remaining time should be adjusted between club and activities, homework, and self-care. But when pupils enter in college they generally think that there is no sufficient time for the tasks they want to do. Organizational skill and the perfect schedule will help the students to manage their changing and busy life.
2. Academic Pressure: Naturally college courses are more difficult and challenging and it is very difficult to perform all the academic responsibilities. Some pupils are pressurized by their parents. So to manage the increase academic tasks and expectation, it is important to attend classes regularly, complete their assignments and should take help if required.
3. Roommate conflict: The most challenging condition of going to college is to live with the unknown person. Most common resources of roommate conflict are different living habits such as neat, quiet, up all night, noisy, early to bed etc. Sometimes students fail to properly communicate with their roommates that lead to worries. In order to avoid conflicts with roommates, communication should be respectful.

There are some recommendations for the students as follow:

1. Be patient: While in campus student faces many difficulties and overwhelming, but with time everything changes. Student always prefers to communicate with the seniors and professor who always guide how to manage the academic tasks along with other extra activities.
2. Get involved: To interact with faculty members and other students, pupils should take part in some activities. Students can meet with the masses of their own interest and can take interest in social tasks.
3. Care of you: Healthy lifestyle is mandatory as being a human being. Taking necessary steps for nurturance, socializing, getting sufficient rest, taking part in some activities.

Importance of Health

Health plays the most important role in our lives. If a person is not healthy, he won’t be happy, even if he is wealthy. Health is not just about physical or medical fitness, it is also about how people deal with their emotional, mental and relationship behaviour. There are various important factors that affect the health of students. Some of them include nutrition, exercise, stress management and eating habits. It is well known that nowadays students have too much stress in their college life. They all have sufficient time to do everything which is felt important, even they give extra efforts and concentrate on their work without giving proper attention to their diet and sleeping needs. The simple way to stay healthy and fit with a stress-free life is to follow a regular schedule of exercise and taking healthy diet. One of the measure issues regarding the health of students is weight gain. Students who maintain their ideal weight faceless health problems and also being physically active they maintain a relaxed state of mind, which is essential for their overall health. On the daily basis our body needs a sufficient amount of protein, minerals and vitamin to be a fit and healthy, so we should consume fresh and green vegetables, fruits, milk etc. Along with the healthy food and physical activities, students are advised to maintain cleanliness in their residence and surrounding areas. Many studies have proved that if people have fit and healthy they achieve greater success in their life.

Public Health

The public health care support is very necessary and important. People must aware of the skills required for health care at the individual, family and community level. Drug awareness should also be a part of the discussion among youngsters to improve their health in which exercise plays an important role in maintaining a healthy life.

Many studies have been conducted on the framework of HBM (HEALTH BELIEF MODEL) as a descriptive model to determine the possibility of performing preventive health practices among college students. The HBM hold that people who are aware of their risk of diseases can modify their health behaviour to decrease the risk. This model was developed by social psychologists during their work with the public health department. The HBM attempts to explain and predict the health behaviours with a focus on health attitudes based on three core assumptions. These assumptions are founded to understand that the individual will take health-related action if they understand the impact of being healthy in their social and personal health.

Exercise

Exercise has a lot of benefits in our daily life. The health benefits of physical activity and exercise have been supported by many researchers and health practitioners for many decades. Exercise refers to physical activities and mental exertion, carried out to maintain physical health and mental fitness. People who do regular exercise burn their calories; as a result, they lose their weight and look physically better. Exercise increases blood flow and oxygen level in the brain and also release the brain hormones that are responsible for the production of the cell in the hippocampus, the part of the brain that controls memory and learning. Physical activities also act as a major factor that leads to good quality sleep as taking good quality sleep helps to improve our health and also decrease problems like stress level, depression etc.

Following are a few reasons why students being physically active in college are so important:

1. Energy boast: Being a student life we usually feel like we are tired 99% of the time. Exercising three to four times in a week can literally boost your energy levels significantly which is a good thing to be awake and active in the class.
2. Stress Relief: Exercise produces endorphins; basically, endorphins are the chemicals which are produced by the brain. Endorphins are used as a painkiller that helps to reduce the stress levels and improve sleep.
3. Stimulates Brain cell: Students who do exercise on the regular basis actually have strong memory attention and more focus as well. Because when the students do exercise three and four times in a week can have a significant impact on their brain as well. Simply brain is a muscle and the more you work out the muscle the strong.
4. Lower diseases risk: Exercise can actually control high blood pressure, cholesterol, and many other diseases.

Nutrition

A good nutrition diet is an essential need for human and a prerequisite to lead a healthy life. A proper diet is necessary from the early stage of life for proper growth, development and to remain active. When a transition occurs from school to college, students have more responsibilities of academic growth that lead to a good career; also they faced many challenges of the new environment and culture. No doubt, students often faced challenges to maintain a healthy lifestyle and make good nutritional choices. The main reason behind the challenge they faced to maintain their health is the availability of any kind of unhealthy food which often are unhygienic but are attractive and are easily available in the college premises. Many studies have been done by the researchers that emphasize the importance of nutrition and confirmed that the majority of college students don’t make healthy food choices.

In a study conducted by (Canson, 2002)which declared that males consumed more fast food, poultry and are also take cautions about the nutrition facts as compared to females. Females respondents likely try to lose the current weight and more preferable to use the food pyramid to make a food choice. Freshmen and seniors more prefer to eat snacks and seniors also reported less use of the food pyramid to guide food choices than of the other classes.

Stress Management

Many studies indicated that stressful academic situations affect the performance of student life. The effect of the stress factor has been studied on the performance of college students which established that the low-stress level can improve the concentration for short period of time which works as a positive factor in improving student performance but too much stress can affect the student in a negative way and can lead to depression. No doubt, college life is very hectic and there are many factors for generating stress but the most common causes of stress for student life is a follows:

1. Heavy workload
2. Family problems and loss of love ones
3. Pressure to perform well in exam
4. Living among strangers
5. Unfamiliar environment
6. Overthinking
7. Poor time management

Stress affects our life mentally, physically ,and emotionally. Here are some ways to help to avoid the stressors

1. Build a relationship and connect with others.
2. Change my-self-defeating thinking.
3. Exercise, take a healthy diet and get adequate sleep.
4. Set a realistic goal in your life
5. Learn to manage time effectively.
6. Don’t use alcohol, drugs, and other unhealthy habits to relieve your stress.

Literature review

(Tol, 2013), According to this study, the main purpose of Health-promoting lifestyle (HPL) on life promotion via lifestyle process consists of six main factors which are like physical activities, nutrition, interpersonal relation, stress management, and spiritual growth. This study actually aims to determine the relation between the health-promoting lifestyle and its factors. The cross-sectional study was analyzed on undergraduate students at school of health Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, using a census method. Data analysis was conducted by employing the descriptive and inferential statistical tests in SPSS. The mean age of the students is 21.12 years old. Among the six factors, the mean of spiritual growth and responsibilities is 22.01±2.224. 40.7% student had the good general life quality and19.8% student had the average global life quality. The lowest and highest frequencies of health-related life quality, the student having 58.6% good and 9% excellent health. Except the two things like stress management (p = 0.05) and student gender, there were no substantial relationships amongst other HPL traits and gender. Health-related life quality and stress management were expressively related to each other; conversely, no statistically significant link was observed between health-related life quality and nutrition, physical activity, interpersonal relations, and spiritual growth. The whole study may be concluded on the fact that there is a promising relationship between accepting and adopting the health-promoting lifestyle with the aspects of its spiritual growth and stress management as compare to that via adopting general lifestyle.

During most college students’ four years of studies, they are required to live in dorms. As expected, dorms are usually shared between two or more people, which automatically makes them your roommates. Throughout these four years every student gets to meet many different types of people, coming from various countries and backgrounds, and most times students are required to share their living spaces with those same people. As time progresses, we, students, are predisposed to live with a variety of roommates, most of whom can be classified into different groups. Most roommates fall into one of the following categories: slobs, party animals, hermits, ghosts, and some others. Regardless of how good or bad our roommates can be, they all teach us valuable lessons and gift us with new perspectives.

The first type of roommate that you are very likely to meet is a slob. This type of roommate has no regard for personal hygiene, let alone tidying up and keeping the common areas clean. They are unbothered by the state of their room and barely notice the chaos they leave behind themselves. In my personal experience, with these types of roommates no amount of conversation and reasoning works, simply because they have never been in the habit of cleaning up. Most times what a normal person sees as a mess seems to be fine for a slob. On the contrary, are clean freaks, these are the roommates that can be a little excessive when it comes to cleaning. Clean freaks are no better than slobs because of their high standards when it comes to sanitation. If the room doesn’t meet their expectations, they will often throw around innuendos or just do it themselves. Unlike slobs, who are unbothered by their surroundings, clean freaks can easily be triggered if something looks out of place.

The next type of roommate is a party animal. These roommates are rarely seen to miss out on any of the campus events and parties and are always primed about events occurring around the city. These roommates do however have a negative side, as they would often come back at late hours of the night and most times not in a very conscious state of mind. Party animals also like to throw hangouts in the room you share as a part of their pre-drinking ritual, oftentimes disregarding the fact that you could be studying. Although they are always informed about the different parties occurring around them, they are rarely aware of their assignments or upcoming exam dates. The polar opposite of party animals are nerds or student leaders, these are the roommates that are always seen at the library or in the dorm worrying about their next assignments and exams. Nerds are great for academic advice and help since they are well-enlightened about most subjects you are taking. These types of roommates are almost always presidents of one or more clubs and are very involved in the academic life of the college, however, they don’t always participate in the party culture of the college unless it’s an event that their clubs are hosting. The downside of having this type of roommate is that your dorm unavoidably turns into the quiet zone inside of a library, as any unnecessary noises cause a major distraction from their studies.

Not every college student is aware of the next type of roommate unless they live with them. As their name insinuates, hermits are roommates who are rarely seen leaving the dorm unless it’s necessary, therefore making it impossible for others to get to know them. These are the types of people that we would often classify as introverts; as college students, they rarely participate in clubs and only have social interactions whenever it’s mandatory. It can be a great inconvenience to have a hermit as a roommate since you rarely get alone time or personal space. It is unknown how hermits spend their time when alone. A ghost is another type of roommate for which very little is known. This is a roommate who you rarely see and know sheer information about. The whereabouts of this roommate is unknown, and interactions are kept to a bare minimum. The positive side of having a roommate like a ghost is that you can have the room to yourself most of the time.

A ‘mooch’, ‘borrower’, and ‘kleptomaniac’ are types of roommates that fall under the same category and serve the same purpose: they take your personal belongings with or without your permission. A mooch is constantly lacking something and in need to borrow what’s yours; at first, they ask for your permission, but later on, get comfortable enough to use them whenever they want to. As boundaries slowly start to deteriorate, such a roommate feels free to borrow whatever they need as if it was simply theirs. With a kleptomaniac, it’s a little different, because they don’t just borrow, they just take your personal belongings. It could be something as simple as your food but soon progresses to your books, clothes, and toiletries. The reasoning behind their actions is unclear to many and can be fixed only by setting up ground rules and establishing clear boundaries.

Last but not least are the rare yet incredible ‘perfect match’ roommates. These roommates are hard to come across and it usually takes a few tries before you get to live with them; some students may never even get to that point. This is a roommate with whom things go smoothly and there appears to be some type of a connection. Soon after you get to know each other you realize that the both of you share common interests and are quite compatible. It doesn’t take long before you and your roommate become very comfortable around each other and form a long-lasting friendship. Things seem to happen naturally and there is a mutual understanding between the two of you. From personal experience having a ‘perfect match’ as a roommate is a great experience to have, because I am basically living with my best friend. Our personalities complement each other, we share common worries and problems, and help each other out. Finding the ‘perfect match’ may be hard, but not impossible, and sometimes altering your lifestyle can accommodate you in your search.

College is a great place to meet and live with a diversity of people. It also teaches you how to be patient and kind when you don’t always agree with their way of life. The people you will share a room with can often be classified into different categories, and although some of them are unagreeable, they all teach valuable lessons that we can apply to our lives after graduating.

The brief history of physical education would start in just about 1820 when schools focused on gymnastics, hygiene training and care, and development of the human body. Physical education in college happened when college athletics received a major stimulus when a National Collegiate Athletic Association was created in the early twentieth centuries. Late in the twentieth century there was certainly a decline in the commitment to physical education because the growing offering of extra subjects and electives in schools means that the shift was focusing away from physical education and towards academics. Recent awareness of the need for balanced curriculums particularly given the national concern over the state of obesity and children’s attention towards non-physical activities. I support the offering of physical education courses at the university level because it helps us college students gain knowledge of how we should be healthier in college and it also helps prevent sleep deprivation.

In college, it is so easy to become unhealthy and gain a lot of weight from being stressed or just sitting in your room doing nothing. For most college students, eating problems stem from having too much food around. A new study suggested that a higher than expected percentage of the college students might not be eating enough because they can’t afford it. For example, the researchers asked the students whether they were able to afford balanced meals in the last month. “Sixty two percent of the students reported they couldn’t afford balanced meals,” says lead study author Megan Patton-Lopez, an epidemiologist at Benton County Health Services in Oregon”. In college, there’s also not many healthy options you can choose from, so you’ll really have to balance your eating habits and also choose what you’re going to eat. There are many ways to balance your eating habits in college, which are “choose a campus supported meal plan for your first term in school, if you are not living in a residence hall or your school has no access to a meal plan, you should try to work out a food budget that makes sense for you, remember to try to keep some balance in your diet, etc.”. If you take time to understand how your body works and actually try to stay healthy, then physical education would be a great source to look towards in college.

In college, students rarely get any sleep due to working a part timed job, take a class that overworks the students, or studying for a test at the last minute which causes you to stay up very late at night. After research, most college students only get six to seven hours of sleep per night. There are a couple of ways that studies show how you can get better sleep while in school. Those studies show that you can go to bed early, get out of bed, stay out of bed, limit your naps, wake up on the weekends, do not drink caffeine, etc. Studies show that at least fifty percent of college students experience daytime sleepiness due to sleep deprivation. Physical education can help with sleep deprivation: “To more sound and restful sleep. Physical activity increases time spent in deep sleep, the most physically curative sleep phase. Deep sleep helps to boost immune function, support cardiac health, and control stress and anxiety’. Physical education should be used in college because more college students deals with sleep deprivation.

Physical education should definitely be offered at the university level. I selected this topic because I feel as if physical education will affect college students in many different ways so they can live a healthier lifestyle. In college you are practically on your own, whereas back home most of us had parents or guardians who would help us keep up with our eating habits or doctor visits to keep us updated on ourselves. Motor development helps with any type of movement such as, walking, running, stretching, bending, catching, and throwing. After doing all the research I have done, I realized how physical education is the key aspect in life. Physical education will help you with a lot of the problems that you face in life such as, depression, stress, anxiety, sleep deprivation, weight gain, etc.

Students all around the world have told their stories of how their college years were either great and party filled, or class and homework filled. One thing the students all seemed to have in common was that depression and anxiety was always something hanging over their shoulders. Student have spoken on how if they weren’t stressing about that night’s homework they were stressing about their next test or exam and even after that they were worried about large projects and all the way down to their final exams. College has always been a large pressure in almost every part of the world. Some places greater than others. Even with this fairy tale outlook the students are still struggling with their mental health. There isn’t just one reason for such an issue, many factors come into play. During college years this is when a student’s mental health needs to be stable and healthy. Having a healthy mental health helps you within your studies. Students are the future to careers, so their mental health should be just as important as in obtaining a degree.

One of the issues brought to light was a person’s ethnicity. By the time college rolls around it would seem to maybe not be such an issue yet that isn’t the case. College gives students a free range of finding out who they are and who they want to be. It also lets a person show their real selves due to wanting to fit in more likely in high school. Usually when coming to a large college or university there is almost always a chance the diversity is quite large. That is what makes universities so inviting, know that there is more than one type of person and ethnics all around. A study was done to see if ethnics played a part into depressive thinking due to discrimination (American Psychological Association, 2014). The study was done on both male and females from the ages of 18 to 30 years of age. This would show if the discrimination played a part in the persons mental health and if it was greater for one specific factor or was it a grouped outcome. The study also put into factor that the students were past the stage of questioning their identity or beyond the formative stages of ethnic identity formation (French, Seidman, Allen, & Aber, 2006). The study grouped together 30 colleges from across the United States and gathered 2,315 college students being that 63% were Latino, 37% Black with a gender of 76% female. They asked the students to note on their information sheet which ethnic group they felt they belong to or identified with. The students who felt they didn’t belong to the Latino or black group were excluded from the study. The age that seemed to be the median was 20 years of age and 80% of the students showed that they were from the United States, born and raised. The data was then collected from September of 2008 to October of 2009 and out of all the students only 73% completed they survey and questionnaire.

While the questionnaire didn’t take too long the information gathered showed almost exactly what the study expected. The depressive symptoms were then measured by using a 20-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977). The students were asked to answer questions that went along with major symptoms that went with major depression and if they felt they agreed with the information asked and shown. More information was gathered individually from each participant and with the information they couldn’t gather from the students who didn’t answer or finish their questionnaire they had to rule out and modify their hypothesis. The results showed that on average the students who identified as black showed that they had more ethnic discrimination than the Latino group while the females in the Latino group had a higher percentage of discrimination than the males of their group. The Black students received more discrimination due to their ethnic while the Latinos received hate due to if they were born in the United States or not. With the results It showed that both groups had a high percentage of having some sort of depressive mental state or depression was on the rise due to how they felt about the situation. The students also mentioned that they had always had discrimination but that reaching college it seemed to become large due to the diversity along with having problems within school and classes.

Depression among the youth has seemed to double since the 21st century (Kisch, Leino, & Silverman, 2005) being that it is mainly focused around college students. More reasons for this issue found among college students was related to substance abuse, alcoholism, feeling disconnected from your campus and fellow peers. This can lead to self-injury, eating disorders or more substance abuse. Sometimes even leading to suicide (Haw, Hawton, Casey, Bale, & Shepard, 2005; Ross et al., 2009). Information gathered from Psychology of Addictive Behaviors (2010) informed that self-injury also known as SIB, became much higher due to the results of academic failure or that grades were not where a student or a student’s family felt they should be. The study followed students 24 and under and how well they were doing in school along with if they had any sort of substance abuse and how often they drank on a day-to-day basis if any. When first looking into SIB they found that this was at a much higher rate than any of the other behaviors associated with depression.

When questioning their participants, they found that 7% showed that they had SIB within the past month while 17% to 38% reported self-injury within their lifetime and mostly being towards end of high school year and all throughout college years (Gratz, Conrad, & Roemer, 2002; Whitlock, Eckenrode, & Silverman, 2006). Being that most of the students reporting this behavior was on campus they looked for factors of age, gender, ethnic and if they were undergraduate students or graduates. When having a mix of all factors they found that females were more willing to act on SIB and having eating disorders while males lead more to substance abuse and alcoholism. While also indicating that these behaviors declined with age and most students were undergraduates that acted on these behaviors (Jacobson & Gould, 2007; American College Health Association, 2007).

Another major issue is sleep. Sleep is a very important factor when it comes to mental stability. Sleep all around is what goes along with helping the brain work properly from how the brain ‘digests’ information obtained and how the brain needs to function on a day-to-day basis. Most students recorded and average 3-9 hours of sleep per night. While some claimed to pull many all-nighters throughout the week trying to do homework and study for exams (American Psychological Association. 2009). While students who have medically been informed that they do indeed have depression reported that they had even more issue with sleep and having large amounts of fatigue through the day and being sleepy through their classes yet unable to sleep throughout the night (‘Sleep in Psychiatric Disorders’, Benca, 1996).

The link between sleep issues and disorders vs depression also question, could the two factors play into suicides. Since being that both are mental health problems and one could lead to another if not both could make you question how far the issues could lead being that suicide rates are very high with college students as well. How this study was conducted was the REM state of the might was recorded and tracked to see how the brain functions or how high vs low the activity was. When doing this control on depressed students and patients they recorded that the depressed participants had an intense and rapid REM activity and experience little to no good amount of sleep if any (Rush et al., 1986).

So, when it comes down to how important it is to focus on students and their mental health as well as them making sure that their state of well-being is take care of it goes to show just how important mental health really is. Students should focus on both school and they, schools as well need to make sure they have all options open for their students and that all resources are easy access without any judgement.

References

1. American College Health Association. (2007). American College Health Association National College Health Assessment Spring 2006 Reference Group Data Report (abridged). Journal of American College Health, 55, 195–206.
2. French, S. E., Seidman, E., Allen, L., & Aber, L. J. (2006). The development of ethnic identity during adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 42, 1–10. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.42.1.1
3. Gratz, K. L., Conrad, S. D., & Roemer, L. (2002). Risk factors for deliberate self-harm among college students. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 72, 128–140.
4. Haw, C., Hawton, K., Casey, D., Bale, E., & Shepherd, A. (2005). Alcohol dependence, excessive drinking and deliberate self-harm. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 40, 964–967.
5. Kisch, J., Leino, E. V., & Silverman, M. M. (2005). Aspects of suicidal behavior, depression, and treatment in college students: Results from the spring 2000 National College Health Assessment Survey. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 35, 3–13. doi:10.1521/suli.35.1.3.59263
6. Radloff, L. (1977). The CES-D Scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385–401. doi:10.1177/01466216770010030
7. Rush, A. J., Erman, M. K., Giles, D. E., Schlesser, M. A., Carpenter, G., Vasavada, N., & Roffwarg, H. P. (1986). Polysomnographic findings in recently drug-free and clinically remitted depressed patients. Archives of General Psychiatry, 43, 878–884.

This paper explores college students and relationships. During emerging adulthood relationships are important because previous research has shown that positive close relationships with peers correlate to how well they adapt in college, academic achievement, retention rates, and their well-being among other college students (Parade, Leekers, & E.M., 2009). Relationships are an important topic to study because they have been consistently associated with positive physical and mental health (Braithwaite, Delevi, & Fincham, 2010). This paper will explore the emotional, physical, cognitive, and social aspects of development during emerging adulthood.

Emotional

Emotions come from a natural state of mind due to circumstances occurring. Emotional development also plays a huge part in a persons well-being. College brings on a whirlwind of emotions and new relationships for people to delve into. Drouin, M., & Landgraff, C. in 2012 did a study to see how texting and sexting practices are related to attachment in college students who are in committed relationships. They surveyed 744 college students who claimed to be in committed relationships and had them answer a series of questions pertaining to their texting and sexting practices and their attachment styles to their partners. One of the results that they got was that text messaging was more common in those who had a secure attachment while sexting was more common in those who had an insecure attachment. Having anxious attachment predicted in sending only sexting messages while attachment avoidance people sent both. Avoidant men were more likely than avoidant women to send sex messages and picture messages to their partners though (Drouin, M., & Landgraff, C., 2012). This study shows what type of attachment styles were found in committed college students and this can link to college students self-esteem. Relationships are hard especially in college, that is why secure attachments are important to maintain. Fortunately, on-campus resources like college success workshops, like Understanding Rape Culture, that are facilitated by peer mentors are open to all SJSU students. It takes place in room SSC 603 and its to help you recognize contributing factors to rape culture and tools on how to dismantle it. This would help you with insecure attachments and help with your overall emotional health. In an additional study done by Nelson, M. C., Story, M., Larson, N. I., Neumark-Sztainer, D., & Lytle, L. A. in 2012 emerging adulthood is described as a unique stage in life and show evidence of how certain things, like relationships, can affect a persons health and their physical activity. Their study is based on 18-29-year-olds from national surveys and longitudinal studies. One result was that the transition to emerging adulthood has increased risk of weight gain and that research suggests that closer relationships with parents and siblings evolve during youth transition into college and as a youth becomes more independent it might have an influence of their health behavior patterns. Also as they become more independent their physical activity declines as work goes on (Nelson, M. C., Story, M., Larson, N. I., Neumark-Sztainer, D., & Lytle, L. A., 2012). In order to live a healthy life emotionally and physically, college students must realize the effects relationships have on them in college and throughout their lives. One way SJSU can help you is by going to a CAPS Life Skills Workshop, “Body Image”, where they talk about your self-esteem and how it makes you perceive yourself. This usually takes place in room SWC 375 and helps college students with their emotional well being.

Physical

Physical development is a key part of growing up. Especially in college students, its something you should keep an eye on and it’s important for the health of young adults. However, relationships can sometimes adversely affect your physically well being. In a study done by Braithwaite, S. R., Delevi, R., & Fincham, F. D. (2010) they wanted to find out if college students in committed relationships experienced greater well-being than single students. They took a sample of 1621 college students and came up with the conclusion that committed relationships experienced fewer health problems and were less likely to become overweight. Another thing they found was that being in a committed relationship decreased your problematic outcomes largely because of the reduced number of sexual partners (Braithwaite, S. R., Delevi, R., & Fincham, F. D., 2010). According to an additional study (Lacaille, L. J., Dauner, K. N., Krambeer, R. J., & Pedersen, J., 2011) there is factual evidence that your eating and physical activity level were hard to stay healthy due to social life and relationships. Lacaille, L. J., Dauner, K. N., Krambeer, R. J., & Pedersen, J. did a study to find out what factors college students perceived as contributing to their healthy or unhealthy patterns, physical activity, and weight change. They also found out that there were gender differences in how it impacted behavior because some men had a desire to gain weight which would make them engage in different eating habits than women. However, on-campus resources are available to help students in need. Group fitness classes are offered year-round in the Spartan Gym usually in one of the studios. Like a boot camp workout is offered in Studio A, which is an intense total body workout to help with your physical health and get in shape. There is also the new Spartan Recreation and Aquatic Center that has a fully equipped gym, aerobics room, basketball courts, swimming pool, and a rock climbing wall. Its the new building located right next to the dorms and event center and it could help improve your overall health by encouraging you to do physical activity and help with your health.

Cognitive

Cognitive development is a critical domain of development for emerging adults in college. This is the time where they think, learn, and understand at a whole new level than they did before. This is where they form new identities, beliefs, attitudes and build new ideas while gaining knowledge. College is a world of cognitive development. In a study by Marder, S. L. (2009) they were trying to find the correlations between friendship, college adjustment, and self-efficacy for college students to increase the retention rates of college students. They sent surveys to first-year students in a psychology class of two colleges, a big one with 14,000 enrolled and a small one with 2000 enrolled. They found that college students self-efficacy had no significant relationship to how their friendship groups were composed. They also found that participants who thought of friendships as important also had positive associations on how they rated their friends influence on self-confidence and college adjustment. Many resources on campus are available to help you, like College Success Workshops. Specifically, “Finding your Niche @ SJSU”, this workshop helps you get involved in campus and find friends. It provides you with insight on all the organizations on campus and how to get involved in them. This workshop takes place at SSC 603 and is good for helping college students with their identity formation. Another study by Field, C. J., Kimuna, S. R., & Straus, M. A. (2013) focused on examining the attitude towards interracial couples on campus. They sampled 1173 college students and found that black students disapproved of interracial couples more than white students and that white/asian couples were more accepted than white/black couples. There was also no significant difference between male and female attitude on interracial couples, but white students did feel that their parents disapproved most of black/white interracial dating. Students thinking a certain way towards specific relationships can change the way other students think about their own relationships. It is also showing certain beliefs and attitudes college students have towards romantic relationships in college. Also on campus resources like the Student Wellness Center offers counseling which can help you with your mental health and where you can seek guidance.

Social

Social development is a critical growth component for any college student. Social interaction is important for young adults to learn from and live a healthy and positive life. One study (Wayt, L. K., 2012) tried to find the connection between students relationships and their choice to stay at a post-secondary institution. A random sample of 300 college students enrolled in their second full year at this mid-Plains university was asked to complete the survey. They found out that students who stayed through college have positive relational influences and more positive college experience. Students are also positively influenced by their school peers and faculty. They also found out that students were more socially associated like friends and family had a greater influence than those that were only academically associated. College students relationships which are more closely tied to his social life had a stronger impact on their decisions to pursue farther in college (Wayt, L. K., 2012). Another study (Parade, S. H., Leerkes, E. M., & Blankson, A. N., 2009) studied the process of how attachment to parents can influence students satisfaction and ease going in forming friendships in college. They sampled 385 college freshman and found that secure attachment to parents was positively associated with ease in forming friendships. They also found that the indirect effects of parent attachment security through social anxiety were significant for minority students. SJSU has opportunities to help you with on-campus resources. CAPS Life Skills Workshop, “Healthy Relationships”, where they talk about relationships you have and how to strengthen them. This usually takes place in room SWC 375 and helps college students with their social interaction. Another way is by going to a College Success Workshop, “Strengths Workshop Series: Interpersonal Domain”, which talks to you about how to use your strengths in interpersonal situations and practice integrating your strengths into your personal relationships and teamwork. This helps college students with working on their social relationships.

Emotional, physical, cognitive, and social are all critical domains for college students. These areas of development continue throughout an individuals life. Stable relationships in college bring mostly good outcomes, but sometimes relationships can also cause an adverse effect. Having secure attachment relationships brings positive association with how well a college student is doing. Physical health also can be altered by how your relationship is going which effects your behavior patterns. However, there are many on-campus resources that can help students become better like the College Success Workshops and Student Wellness Center. I believe that relationships are an important factor in college life and can really affect the way your life moves forward.

On average 1,534,125 are the number of bacteria found in a woman’s living space in college. Even though bacteria is found everywhere, people don’t see it as the threat that it is. Especially for, college students who are constantly in and out of their room being exposed to outside bacteria and bringing it all in their room. This paper will focus on the effects of bacteria on my discourse community, the struggles we have with the bacteria, and ways to solve these issues. I will first dive into talking about how these affect my discourse community.

Around ninety, percent of the bacteria students come in contact with has been proven to be potentially harmful (‘Bacteria on Campus’). We all know that washing your hands kills the bacteria and you will be less prone to getting sick and spreading the bacteria around to others. In my discourse community, we share one bathroom with about thirty to thirty-five people. In our bathroom, we have four stalls, four, showers, and six sinks. We have two working sinks that are able to keep the faucet turned to where the water is able to run, therefore that is a constant battle in our bathrooms because those two sinks are constantly being used. I always see people using the sinks that don’t hold the water and they are washing one hand whentime, and it defeats the purpose of washing hands. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), so as to properly wash the hands one must lather the hands with soap by rubbing them together, and scrubbing for at least twenty seconds, and then rinsing under clean running water. The reason why I believe the purpose is defeated because the last step says “running water”, but most of the sinks in my discourse community don’t run, and I see people touching the faucet to clean their hands. It has been proven that not washing your hands can cause you to get sick more often generally. Also, according to the CDC, germs are able to transfer from your hands to your eyes, nose, and mouth that gives you a higher chance of getting sick.

I conducted short interviews with the residents of my floor to see if any of the problems have had an affect their health. The questions asked were “How many times have you gotten since the second semester began?”, “Has there ever been an instance where you needed to attend the beu?”, and “Have you received your flu shot this year’. Twenty-two out of thirty-five had reported that they had been sick one or more time since second semester began. Only five have gotten the flu shot this year. Ten students reported going to see a doctor. Two of those that went to see a doctor stood out. One student had caught pink eye and one with impetigo, also known as ‘school sore’, which is a very contagious skin infection shown by red sores on the face.

Living in a residence halls especially a living learning community is a unique experience that offers many benefits. Examples of those benefits would be being able to go on trips with the science department and being able to get in contact with the science department, and they will help you branch out to different leaders. It is also beneficial to one another because we are all majoring in something with science and we are all able to help one another when needed and we will be able to come together as a whole floor. There have been multiple times where our floor has not done its job in keeping the bathrooms clean. There have been times where chicken wings have been pushed down sinks and toilets, dirty feminine products are found in the showers and toilets, and we have gotten fined for all of that which makes my discourse community upset, but nothing is being done to solve these issues. There have been multiple times where feminine products have been found in the bathrooms. The residence halls do present a few challenges that mostly have to do with health and hygiene. The health of students could be improved with new sinks are able to keep the water running and constant cleaning of the bathrooms. There have been some issues in the past where our janitor has not done a good job in keeping our bathroom clean, and I believe a general upkeep of the bathrooms on both the students ends, and the janitors could help with hygiene overall.

Introduction

Dear fellow students, faculty, and staff, I stand before you today as a candidate for the position of Class President. I am humbled and honored to have this opportunity to address you and share my vision for a vibrant and successful school year. As your potential leader, I promise to advocate for your needs, foster a positive and inclusive environment, and work tirelessly to enhance our educational experience. Together, we can create a memorable and impactful year.

Building Unity

First and foremost, I believe in the power of unity. As your Class President, I will strive to bring our diverse student body together and create a sense of belonging. I will actively promote inclusivity, ensuring that every student’s voice is heard and respected. By organizing social events, collaborative projects, and cultural celebrations, we can bridge the gaps between us and foster a strong sense of community.

Amplifying Student Voices

One of my primary goals as Class President will be to amplify the voices of my fellow students. I understand that each of you has unique perspectives, concerns, and ideas that deserve to be heard. I will establish an open-door policy, where you can approach me with your thoughts, suggestions, and feedback. Additionally, I will create regular forums and surveys to gather input from the entire class, ensuring that our decisions are truly representative of our collective interests.

Enhancing Student Life

Another crucial aspect of my platform is to enhance student life within our school. I recognize the importance of a well-rounded education that extends beyond the classroom. I will work closely with the student council to organize engaging extracurricular activities, such as clubs, sports teams, and cultural events. These opportunities will not only foster personal growth and leadership skills but also create a vibrant and enjoyable school environment for all.

Improving Communication Channels

Effective communication is the cornerstone of any successful organization. If elected as your Class President, I will establish efficient and transparent communication channels between the student body, administration, and faculty. I will ensure that important information, updates, and announcements reach you in a timely manner. I believe that by fostering strong lines of communication, we can bridge any gaps and work collaboratively towards our shared goals.

Advocating for Student Needs

As your advocate, I will strive to address and resolve the issues and concerns that affect our daily lives as students. I will work closely with the administration to tackle matters such as improving campus facilities, enhancing cafeteria options, and advocating for mental health resources. I am committed to ensuring that our educational environment is conducive to learning, growth, and well-being.

Conclusion

In conclusion, as your potential Class President, I am dedicated to creating a positive and inclusive school experience that empowers each and every one of you. With unity, amplification of student voices, enhanced student life, improved communication, and effective advocacy, we can build a stronger, more connected, and supportive community. Together, we can shape a memorable and impactful school year that we will cherish for years to come.

I ask for your support and trust in electing me as your Class President. Together, let us embrace the opportunity to make a difference, uplift one another, and leave a lasting legacy. Thank you for your time and consideration.

College can be rough at times. Sometimes you need something to help relieve your stress, and what better than that is a pet? They have multiple benefits, and it’s been noted that student’s may do better in school with a pet. Pets are loved by many people, and one thing that college students miss while they’re away at school, is their pets. Most people love to have a furry, feathery or scaley friend to care for. Slippery Rock University, would benefit greatly in allowing pets on campus. Pets should be allowed on college campuses, the reason I believe this are because they help reduce stress and anxiety, depression, and help students succeed in school overall.

As mentioned above, pets help reduce stress. Interacting with a dog or cat raises our level of serotonin and dopamine, which are hormones that calm our nervous system. They make us smile at their cuteness, which releases our ‘happy hormones’. Our stress hormone is called cortisol; and interacting with a friendly dog lowers that and releases oxytocin, another stress relieving chemical in our body. Simply stroking a pet can lower blood pressure, which lowers stress. Studies have shown that dogs can even help aggressive or hyperactive children (Monroe). A Human Animal Bond Research Institute found that veterans living with PTSD had better mental health and well-being if they have a service dog. Some of these included: lower symptoms of post-traumatic stress, higher levels of life satisfaction, lower levels of social isolation and greater ability to partake in social activities.

Secondly, they help with anxiety. “Not only are people happier in the presence of animals, they’re also healthier. In a survey of pet owners, 74% of pet owners reported mental health improvements from pet ownership, and 75% of pet owners reported a friend’s or family member’s mental health has improved from pet ownership” (Feldman). This article mentions that they call this ‘the Pet Effect’. Another article states that they did a study with children and dogs. “In fact, 21 percent of the children who did not have a pet dog tested positive on a screening test for anxiety. However, only 12 percent of children with dogs tested positive for anxiety”. In another study, a group of stressed adults went to touch a rabbit, turtle or toy. The toy did nothing, however; when they touched the rabbit or turtle, they relieved anxiety.

Depression is a common and sad thing, especially in college students. Animals are a great way to help reduce or event prevent depression. Loneliness is a common part of depression, and pets can eliminate that feeling of loneliness. They show you love, compassion and comfort. You may think about if the pets aren’t dogs, but an animal that doesn’t interact to people as much, will that affect anything? Well, even if the pets don’t interact as much, they can still help with mental health. In 2016, a group of elderly people were given five crickets in a cage. They monitored their moods for eight weeks and compared them to people who were not caring for anything. The group with crickets became less depressed in those eight weeks (Monroe).

Freshman or transfer students are especially more stressed and are still in the process of finding new friend groups, so they could use a companion. Having a pet could also help students feel more at home when staying in a dorm. “We might not think of college students as being lonely, but a lot of freshman and sophomores are in an early transition from living at home to living in dorms or off-campus. College is a very stressful environment for them and sometimes they can feel isolated or overwhelmed with the change. We found that a lot of young adults are choosing to have an animal companion for important reasons. Many feel their pets will help get them through these difficult and stressful situations, and many more say that without their pet, they would feel lonely”. It continues by saying: “College students living far from home may find it harder to deal with difficult situations because they are thrown into a new environment and expected to find their way, often for the first time in their lives” (‘College Students Find Comfort in Their Pets During Hard Times’). Another article also mentions this. They asked why they had pets, and companionship was the most common answer. “College students were more likely than the older participants to say their pet helps them get through hard times. That may be because college freshmen are in a transition period and haven’t yet built their social network and resources for coping” (Hitti). Many articles and studies say similar things, most being beneficial reasons for pets.

Many colleges, such as Slippery Rock University, are only allowed a pet fish. While that is better than nothing, a fish may not suit people’s needs, such as physical touch. For some people, just watching a fish swim around can calm them down, but for others, that may not be the case. “There’s not one answer about how a pet can help somebody with a specific condition. Is your goal to increase physical activity? Then you might benefit from owning a dog. You have to walk a dog several times a day and you’re going to increase physical activity. If your goal is reducing stress, sometimes watching fish swim can result in a feeling of calmness. So, there’s no one type fits all” (‘The Power of Pets’). As stated, there’s not one type that can suit everyone’s needs, which is why only a fish is too limited.

I made a survey, asking students from SRU why they think pets should be allowed, and what pets they would want. One of the responses responded to the question “Should colleges allow pets on campus?” with the answer “Yes, because pets can help keep colleges kinds mental state high”. I also asked the question “Let’s say dogs and cats aren’t allowed because of barking and allergies, what pet would you want otherwise?”, and they answered: “Lizard”. The responses also varied answers including reasons of helping mental health, encouraging exercise, and helping with anxiety or depression. The answers for the second question were 60% dog and 40% cat. The next questions answers were varied between a hamster, lizard, rabbit, or ferret (Fallavollitti). This shows the diversity of the types of pets wanted, which further supports the evidence that there is not one type for everyone.

Understandably, there may have to be some restrictions for this to work out. For example, dogs may be an issue to because of barking and possibly chewing up important things in the dorms. Cats could be an issue as well because of shedding, scratching and allergies. the solution could be a compromise, such as hamsters, guinea pigs, reptiles, ferrets, rabbits, birds or mice. These animals are small, quiet, caged and easy to take care of. This gives people a variety while not causing noise or allergy issues. An example is Kansas State University. “At Kansas State University, pets are allowed in the dorms as long as the pet is small and relatively quiet. This includes small rodents, reptiles, birds and insects. Some students even have exotic pets such as a chinchilla or a sugar glider. Animals not accustomed to containment such as dogs and cats are not allowed (‘Small Pets Beneficial to Students, Should Be Allowed in Dorm Rooms’). I included this example because this University is an example of how it can be worked out if we add some rules here and there. The article also mentions that the roommate has to agree on having a pet, which is understandable. There can be additional paperwork where all roommates need to sign in order to keep the pets, and even have medical or allergy papers if needed. This way, it’s proven that everyone is okay with having pets and could even prevent future conflict.

Let’s say dogs and cats do become allowed on Slippery Rock’s campus, there are many benefits of them. To fix the problem of noise complaints do to barking and such, there could be designated dorms for dog and cat owners. Any damages done in the dorms from the pet will be the students responsibility. That may be hard to do, but it’s possible! While there may be a few downsides, the positives of owning a dog or cat outweigh the negatives. The first benefit is that dogs can teach you responsibility. Owning a dog takes a lot of responsibility to care for, while college teaches student’s about growing up and being independent. A dog can help teach that as well, because you can’t leave a dog alone for too long, since it needs to be fed, played with and exercised. Speaking of exercise, they promote just that! They can help get you outside and active by taking them on a walk. Even just running around the room can help get a little bit of exercise. Dogs will always be by your side and can help in more ways than you think. “Unlike people who may not stick to you during your dark moments, pets are always with you through it all. With their positive impacts on student’s psychological benefits, self-esteem and combating depression, owning a dog in college can the best decision a student can make” (Guzman). They can be a positive influence to have responsibility of a dog, and even just being in the presence of one can help improve social skills, health and emotions.

Cats serve many benefits as well. Cats are better for the environment they eat less and are more likely to east fish than beef. Cats also can help you cope. They are shown to help people show less signs of physical pain, like crying. They can serve as social support animals during difficult times. Talking to your pet while mourning can help work out their feelings, since it’s easier to talk to something that can’t judge like a human being. They are also very good for stress relieving and are less maintenance than dogs. Petting a cat is positive and calming, and it’s even found that cat owners are 30% less likely to die of a heart attack or stroke than non-cat owners. Also, sleeping with cats can help you sleep better. In fact, 41% of people said they slept better with a cat. Finally, cats can save lives! They have a reputation of not caring about things, but they have saved many lives over the years. One cat warns her owner when he is about to have an epileptic seizure, while another cat woke up its two humans when a gas pipe started to leak. Firefighters told them that the house could have exploded if the cat hadn’t intervened (‘10 Scientific Benefits of Being a Cat Owner’). With this information, dogs and cats may have a few downsides, but the positives can easily outweigh those negatives.

Hamsters are a good example of a small pet that could be reasonable to have on a campus. First, they are affordable, around twenty dollars. This makes it easy and cheap to get. The most you will spend on a hamster is around eighty dollars because most of the money will be spent on the cage and accessories. They are also very cheap to feed, as they are small and the bags of food are big, so they will last a long time. The habitat needs are very small and won’t cost much. All they need are bedding and stuff to climb on or in. Hamsters don’t need a lot of social interaction, so when you’re in class or doing homework, they won’t bother you. They are easy to clean up after, have no special grooming or training and take up little space (Demidova). Hamsters also can exercise themselves, they can hop on their wheel and run till their hearts content, and you don’t have to get up to walk them. They’re friendly, small, low maintenance and cute! (Phillips).

Therapy and emotional support animals are a thing at SRU, but that isn’t available to everyone. You would have to go through the department of disabilities and have a therapist sign papers, when some people may not have access to a therapist. Emotional support animals are very important, but I believe pets should be available to everyone, with certain limits that may be needed. That way, everyone will have the chance of feeling the love and support of their pets.

Pets are loved by many people. Not only are they loved, but they serve many benefits to people, college students especially. The positives outweigh the negatives, and there can be solutions to fix those negatives. There’s not one type of pet that fits all, and every pet has a different benefit than the other. No matter what pet you have, they will show you feelings of love, companionship and happiness.

In conclusion, pets are a great thing to have in college for many reasons. The reasons of positive effects and psychological benefits, including helping with anxiety, depression, and overall doing better in school, are the reasons pets should be allowed on not only SRU, but all college campuses.

Works Cited

1. “College Students Find Comfort In Their Pets During Hard Times”. ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 28 Dec. 2008, http://sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081223091318.htm
2. Demidova, Ekaterina. “10 Amazing Benefits of Owning a Hamster”. Amerikanki, 1 Feb. 2019, http://pets.amerikanki.com/benefits-owning-hamster/
3. Feldman, Steven, et al. “Alleviating Anxiety, Stress and Depression with the Pet Effect”. Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA, http://adaa.org/learn-from-us/from-the-experts/blog-posts/consumer/alleviating-anxiety-stress-and-depression-pet
4. Guzman, Itzel Rodriguez. “CAN HAVING A DOG HELP YOU GET BETTER GRADES?” Pawstruck Press, 26 Oct. 2018, http://blog.pawstruck.com/can-having-a-dog-help-you-get-better-grades/
5. Hitti, Miranda. “Pets Comfort College Students”. WebMD, WebMD, 26 Dec. 2008, http://www.webmd.com/balance/news/20081226/pets-comfort-college-students
6. “How Science Supports Pets for Improving Your Mental Health”. Mental Health America, http://mhanational.org/blog/how-science-supports-pets-improving-your-mental-health
7. Monroe, Jamison. “10 Ways Pets and Mental Health Go Together”. Newport Academy, Newport Academy, 4 June 2018, http://newportacademy.com/resources/well-being/pets-and-mental-health/
8. Phillips, Catherine. “18 Reasons Why Hamsters Are the Best Pets”. 12 Dec. 2019, http://metro.co.uk/2017/06/19/18-reasons-why-hamsters-make-the-best-pets-6719205/
9. Robinson, Lawrence. “The Health and Mood-Boosting Benefits of Pets”. HelpGuide.org, http://helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/mood-boosting-power-of-dogs.htm
10. “Small Pets Beneficial to Students, Should Be Allowed in Dorm Rooms”. Oucampus, http://oucampus.org/news/view.php/662408/Small-pets-beneficial-to-students-should
11. “The Power of Pets”. National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 6 Apr. 2020, http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2018/02/power-pets
12. “10 Scientific Benefits of Being a Cat Owner”. Mental Floss, 31 May 2017, http://mentalfloss.com/article/51154/10-scientific-benefits-being-cat-owner
13. Fallavollitti, Alyssa. “Should Pets Be Allowed on College Campuses?” 12 November 2020, https://www.surveymonkey.com/stories/SM-D6B5MCHY/