Kiandre JagGuide

It has been a crazy year since I started at South. There's been multiple highs and lows, but it has been a great experience overall. Being in college forces you to learn a lot about yourself. Since becoming a Jag, one thing I've learned is problem solving. There's been many things that have been out of my control or difficult, but I have learned to find ways to work through them. Obstacles are not ideal by any means, but it's not impossible to deal with them and move forward.

It has almost been a year since I graduated high school and that's really weird to think about. My first year of college has gone by faster than I expected it would. I am a complete over thinker so I spent a lot of time worrying what college would be like. If I could go back a year and give myself advice, it would be to calm down and enjoy the process more. Now that I realize how fast time flies, I know how important it is to live more in the moment. It definitely makes the whole experience more enjoyable.

When I started at South I felt like I was kind of prepared for the experience and in some ways I was, and in other ways I wasn't. I focused a lot on physically preparing for college when mental preparation is also important. When I finally arrived at South, I was shocked at how easy certain things I had stressed over fell into place. A lot of things were much simpler than I made it out to be. With that being said, here are 5 things High School Seniors should do to prepare for the Fall! Gain some type of organizational skills - This makes the move in process much easier. Go to events (especially during the first week) even if you're skeptical about it! Make sure you remain updated on financial aid/ reimbursements Read the syllabus for your classes and mark the dates of tests/quizzes/projects. Don't Stress About Everything - Starting a new experience is overwhelming but it's much easier than it seems!

Up until the beginning of this semester I didn't really venture out to many places on campus. Since I started going to more places on campus, the outdoor space I go to the most is the outdoor area outside the Student Center. This area is a really good place to eat, meet friends, or do work if you need to. There are also certain events that take place from time to time so that's also a positive. Even if you're not an outdoor person, I highly recommnd checking it out!

It's always very important to give back to your community. Unfortunately, since attending college I haven't done nearly as much community service as I did when I was in high school. However, I would love to do more to help in community service efforts. When I return home for the summer, I plan to look for community service projects to get involved in. I don't have any particular project in mind at the moment, but I intend on doing research to find some events to take part in.

So this past week was stressful to say the least. I pretty much lived in the library. I had a midterm in my Social Problems class, so most of my week was spent trying to not fail. I was also working on a project for my Three Dimensional design class that broke three times...so that was lovely. On Thursday, I also remembered that I had a project due for my Art History class the next day (procrastination is always a good idea until it's not) so I had to walk around the campus and find something that shared a similarity with a building, painting, or sculpture from the Renaissance. On a good note I actually did find a something that worked well for the project. At the end of the week I had to actually take my midterm for my Social Problems class so that was as fun as you would imagine it to be. On Saturday, I got to help with my first USA Day and that was a really cool experience to interact with everybody who is interested in South. All in all, studying and procrastinating pretty much