By Ryleigh Watson:
Learning how to manage your schedule when you first get to college is a must. When you first get to college, so much is already happening. There are so many different extra curriculums to go to and classes to juggle. Even without extracurriculars, it can be a lot to handle. Adding in extracurriculars can sometimes make it feel impossible to manage and juggle priorities.
So, building a schedule that works for you is one of the important things to get done at the beginning of every year no matter what classification you are.
Emily Williamson, junior business major from Denton is taking 15 hours while also playing soccer for Howard Payne Women’s Soccer and works on top of all that.
“I try my hardest to prioritize in a list of school, soccer, and then work,” said Williamson. “Every shift I work during the season, any time I get a break, I am doing a paper in the office. It is extremely difficult, and I am not perfect at it but at the end of the day it is all a priority to me and important that I make a commitment to all three.”
When learning how to manage a full schedule, some people have such a limited amount of time to do everything that needs to be done. So, they come up with their own study habits that help them work best to focus.
Kristin Jones, sophomore, allied health major from Santa Anna said that going to school and working five days a week has made her realize she needed to learn time management and she needed to get it down fast.
“When I know I have to work at 5:00 p.m. I find time in my day, up to two hours, to get all my homework done and study if I need to,” said Jones. “I have found that putting my phone on ‘do not disturb’ and setting it across the room from me helps a lot. And I also avoid studying in public places where I know I will see people who I would want to talk to so I don’t get distracted. Going to school full time and working full time isn’t easy but it’s do-able and a lot of us students do it.”
Luckily, some of our students have jobs that will work with them and understand school comes first.
“Thankfully, my job is very helpful with my schedule,” said Jones. “They understand that I need hours but also can’t be there on call. I also have amazing employees that are always willing to take my shifts when I am in a bind or cover me for a couple of hours if we schedule film on Sundays.”
“I think having a job that will work with your schedule whether it is school, or sports is important, and I am just lucky my boss works with me and understands,” added Jones.
However, even when students have good time management skills, it can still be difficult and overwhelming.
Williamson said that working, playing college soccer, and being a full-time student will always be difficult.
“But I have been doing this going on three years now, so I feel I have a lot more control mentally with it all. I have gotten used to the long hours and manage my time the best I can. I would say I’m close to mastering it but not just yet,” said Williamson.
Photo of staff writer Ryleigh Watson