Have you recently found yourself overwhelmed by both schoolwork and extracurricular activities? Does it seem like your professors are plotting against you in order to make you more stressed than ever? Despite what you may think, this usually is not the case. One thing that the average Monmouth University student struggles constantly with is balance. Balance of school, extracurricular activities, internships, jobs, the list goes on and on. A question that we, as students, still wonder is how is it possible to manage with so many places to be involved with on and off campus?
Junior business administration student, Bobby Jones, spoke about how he handles both his academic life as well as his extracurricular activities. Jones is a brother of Sigma Tau Gamma and has held multiple executive board positions for the fraternity. He is also a Co-Founder of the Real Estate Club, Vice President of Inter-Fraternal Council, and currently an intern at VRI Homes. With all this involvement both on and off campus, it would be easy to think that Jones is constantly stressed during the school year. “I like to finish my work ahead of time and stay focused until my work is done,” he said. With this type of mindset, Jones finds himself motivated to complete his work in a timely manner. Jones also spoke about ways in which he organizes his work to complete it. “I like to work on time management and organize with various to-do lists,” he said. Although the amount of work Jones has, he continues to stay focused and complete any task he needs to.
Scott Buksbaum, a freshman music industry student, also is involved heavily both on and off campus. Buksbaum is also a brother of Sigma Tau Gamma and is currently the fraternities Director of Recruitment. On campus, he is involved in Blue Hawk Records, Blue Hawk Studio, Club Soccer and Club Boxing. Off campus, Buksbaum is a member of the band Malibu and part of the Music Alliance. He finds himself bombarded with work from both his academics and extracurricular activities, but still finds a way to stay focused and goal-oriented.
Buksbaum went into detail on how he manages his work. He said, “Creating a plan is the most efficient way for me. I like to do work and take a break to do activities I enjoy. Best of both worlds so I’m not stressing myself out too much.” When asked about what he does if he is stressed with work, he stated, “If I’m stressing out, I’ll work for 30 minutes and then take a nap or listen to music and relax for a little just to keep my mind free.” Overall, Buksbaum’s ideas and plans with time management with both academics and extracurricular activities are an effective way in which he completes his work.
Finally, Assistant Director of Student and Young Alumni Giving, Erin Smith gave her thoughts on the topic. Smith is essentially a promoter for Monmouth University and works with students to “instill pride and tradition into their Monmouth experience to educate them on the importance of giving back.” In terms of Smith’s extracurricular activities, she stated, “I am getting ready to build a house and planning my October 19th wedding.” Although these are not on campus activities, she is still constantly busy with planning and organizing. Smith is also constantly on the phone with vendors and contractors. To stay focused and goal-oriented, she uses a planner to keep on track with assignments.
She stated, “I swear by my planner and within it, I have it broken up into work and personal. I try to make sure that both calendars are even.” She will also find days in her planner where she is not busy with work or extracurricular activities to take the day off and focus on herself. With all of her work causing her stress, she doesn’t particularly find it a bad thing. She said, “Sometimes you are stressed because you care, and it is important that you care about doing a good job at work.” She also expressed that it is okay to take short “brain breaks” as long as you stay on tasks and get your work done. Smith’s ways of staying organized and focused are very goal-oriented and help her complete anything she sets her mind to.
Being able to manage both an academic life and extracurricular life can be difficult for most students. Planning ahead and keeping track of when assignments need to be completed by has been a very prominent ideology. As long as you are completing your tasks in a timely manner and being an active presence in both academics and extracurricular activities, you will be fine for the rest of your semester.
