December Letter From the Editor

Hi Everyone, 

Happy December! We’ve entered the final stretch before winter break. It is a time of holiday anticipation, sure, but it is also a time of (frequently) overwhelming stress. Every class now has, or is about to have, a major project, presentation, or test assigned to end the semester. Sadly, there is barely time left to space out the due dates and make the workload more bearable for the students. Our challenge, as students, is to find a way to fend off holiday temptations to shut off our brains and instead power through the next two weeks. 

My advice, you obviously don’t have to listen to it, is to use the pomodoro technique (25 minutes of studying, 5 minutes of break, though you can customize it to your liking). This will allow you to get a lot of work done without necessarily burning out. Also, filming yourself in a time lapse while studying can make you remarkably productive- you feel like the smart main character in a movie!

During your breaks, whether you’re using pomodoro or not, I have a few suggestions I would like to share:

  1. Baking holiday cookies! Make them yourself or buy the premade dough-- I recommend Sweet Lauren’s dough!!

  2. Hang out with your dog (my personal favorite) or the campus pets if you’re a boarder.

  3. Make a paper snowflake if you’re feeling crafty.

  4. Wrap, or order, that gift. 

  5. Play a game of dreidel (with a time limit if needed). It’s fun and you get chocolate!

  6. Make a cup of hot cocoa (with mini marshmallows) or hot tea or hot coffee. Yum. 

If you have other ideas I have not mentioned feel free to email me and I just might add them to the list. Most importantly, remember not to stress too too much. You probably won’t remember how well you did on your Xth grade midyear report in 10 years anyway. 

Have a great winter break! Until next semester….

Rosa

Jeremy Kalfus