Tag: enrichment (page 2 of 16)

“Staying Connected” by Jenny Gloyd

We are in a time which values house slippers over work boots, ceramic mugs over travel tumblers, and computer keyboards over car keys. While we are all home, there are plenty of opportunities to stay connected to our friends, family, classmates, and colleges. Platforms like Zoom and Discord have features that make connecting fun, and the community around us is already finding exciting and creative ways to stay in touch. I wanted to take this time to share with you some of my favorite apps and ideas. 

Zoom is well known on our new virtual campus, as many professors have chosen this platform to host lectures, or to hold office hours, but Zoom can also be used outside of class. With friends, you can make more use of Zoom’s green screen feature. Make it look like you are at the Morris Library, on the beach, or better yet, set the background to a silly photo of a friend. Zoom allows screen and computer audio sharing, so movies are a go on Zoom! Have one friend share the screen and you all can watch together! Virtual game nights are also in the cards. Pictionary can be played using Zoom’s whiteboard functionality, and other games such as Clue or Exploding Kittens have online versions, so it is definitely worth searching for an online version of your favorite board game. I really like Jackbox, which is downloadable to your computer, and allows you to host a variety of fun mini-games that others can participate in via their smartphones. This works the same way as the movie, a friend with Jackbox can share their screen and audio, and others can view the game on their screens as well!

Discord is traditionally used for collaborating remotely while playing video games, but it finds a second use for the day-to-day person. One of the advantages of Discord is that you can create subgroups for both written messages, and spoken conversations. For example, in my Organic Chemistry group chat, there is a specific text-channel labeled “Problem Sets,” so all information relevant to our problem sets can be in one place. There is a voice-channel labeled the same, so anyone in the class currently working on the homework set can speak on the channel to work together. Another wonderful feature is the ability to create and upload your own custom emojis. If your friend made a funny face in lecture, it can be an emoji! If you found a cute puppy photo on twitter the other day, it can be an emoji! One of the custom emojis for the Chemistry class is a small picture of the commonly used molecule, benzene. 

I’d like to end this post with some honorable mentions, activities that I have not tried myself, but seem like a good use of our quarantine time. 

“Excel Tag”

Share a Google Sheets document with a friend. You will be able to see which box you and your friend have highlighted. One person starts off as “it.” and then uses their arrow keys to select adjacent boxes and “run” away from the other person. If you select the same box, the other person is “it.”

“PowerPoint Parties”

This idea is best carried out through a platform like Zoom, so that screen sharing is a possibility. You invite friends to a Zoom call, and ask them to come prepared with a short presentation on a topic of their choice. This could be as researched as “The History of the Penny” or as passionate as “Hamburgers ARE Sandwiches.” Grab some popcorn, sit back and watch what your friends have made to present, and don’t forget to make some slides of your own.

“Refreshing Your Work Space for School at Home” by Abhigna Rao

Over the past few weeks, the word “homeschool” has taken on an entirely new meaning for all of us. And one of the most common complaints that I have heard from friends, colleagues, residents, and everyone in between is dealing with the lack of motivation to do work and decreasing productivity with each passing day. 

For many of us, being on campus and surrounded by fellow driven students played an enormous factor in our own levels of productivity and efficiency at completing assignments. Now, without classes or RSO meetings to walk across the Green for, meeting up with friends for dinner at CR, or reviewing action potentials with study groups in lounges, it is safe to say that our learning experience has become much more sedentary than some us would like. 

Well, fear not! I may have a few ideas for livening up your work area so that you can feel more inspired and focused on a daily basis. No matter what your study strategy or work ethic is, the one factor that has a huge influence on our working style is your environment. At school, that space might be in a Redding lounge, or the Perkins Scrounge, the library, or even out on Harrington Beach. What is it now? A desk? The dining table? In bed underneath a fuzzy blanket?

Whether your room or study space is in need of a massive makeover or just bit of sprucing up here and there, below you will find a variety of ways in which you can achieve your ideal work environment. I hope that some of these help you with cleaning up your work area and in turn, helping you with achieving a space where you find it easy to focus on school work and be productive every day!

Big Change: Play with Paint

As previously mentioned, the atmosphere you work in plays a huge role in influencing your mood, as well as how often you might get distracted. This includes the colors and objects that you are surrounded by for long periods of time in a day. That’s why applying a fresh coat of paint to the walls in the room you work in might be a great step towards a healthy study environment. Colors that tend to work best for focus are cool, muted, and earthy tones. These include, white, off-white, creams, beige, taupe, greens, blues, and grays. You can even coordinate bedding and curtains to create a more cohesive theme — be creative with it and express your style! 

Little Tweak: Wall Embellishments 

If you already love your walls or want to keep them the way they are, that’s great! In that case, here are a few little things you can add to your walls that might help with getting motivated or achieving a positive headspace when it’s time to get down to business:

  • Whiteboards: great for to-do lists and writing out crazy schedules.
  • Bulletin Boards: pin up reminders, photos, everything in between.
  • Calendars: having your calendar on a wall clears up desk space.
  • Photos & Polaroids: collages are always a mood booster!
  • Recognition: medals and certificates can make great wall centerpieces.
  • Wall Decals: these can be images, patterns, or motivational quotes.
  • Posters: for places you want to go and people you want to meet.
  • Supplies Organizer: a hanging organizer can leave more room on your desk as well.
  • Easy Crafts: paper fans, tissue flowers, dreamcatchers…endless possibilities!
  • Mirrors: these will reflect natural light and make a room feel much bigger than it really is.

Big Change: Repurpose Your Furniture

Sitting upright in a chair for hours of Zoom calls and writing essays on Canvas can certainly get achy, so I am a big fan of alternate seating arrangements! But instead of purchasing new furniture, try to spruce up work space with other options. If you have some time on your hands, here are some DIY ideas:

  • Make a giant floor pillow.
  • Paint a wooden stool to turn it into a bedside table.
  • A crate or box + fiber fill or foam + any fabric = a great reading bench.
  • Rugs make the world a better place. 

Little Tweak: Accessorize, Accessorize!

In my opinion, some of the coolest visuals in any space come from neutral, minimalistic backdrops with whimsical pieces that will catch your eye. This is your chance to personalize with room decor! Here are some thought to get you started:

  • Plants: cacti are my go-to, but succulents and spider plants look awesome too! 
  • Mini Fountain: movement creates a stunning moment, plus the water serves as white noise.
  • Photo Frames: great for a desk corner or on a bookshelf!
  • Paintings: a chance for you to hang up some of your own artwork.
  • Past Awards: bring out that 5th grade soccer trophy for that empty space on your shelf!
  • Random Items: I have an old candle holder that I use as a paperweight.

Big Change: Rearrange Space Within the Larger Room

Tidying up messy areas can really help to make your space feel larger and more open. In my experience, there are certain places within a room that tend to get messier faster. Here’s what to look out for. 

  • Closet: fold and hang…in rainbow order.
  • Dresser: try to categorize by drawer, with what you need most often at the top.
  • Bookcase: alphabetically and by genre, with a few empty spaces for simple décor.
  • Storage Boxes: take your miscellaneous items and stick them in a box under your bed.

Little Tweak: Cut the Clutter

Piles of paper on one end, stacks of textbooks on the other, pens and highlighters scattered across the desk, and a coffee-stained coaster underneath the desktop keyboard — if this was you at any point (it definitely was me), you know that clutter never did good things for anyone. In fact, it adds a lot of unnecessary stress to a study area that should actually be helping you to focus. Keeping your area neat and tidy will keep you organized both physically and mentally. Here are some ways you can do that:

  • File Folders: perhaps color code by class.
  • Labels: categorize drawers so that things are easy to find. 
  • Sticky Notes: reminders and such.
  • Bookends: can be anything from rocks you found outside to fancy decorative mugs.
  • Desk Organizers: for pencils, pens, highlighters, and that one Sharpie marker you have.
  • Paperclips & Binderclips: no stray papers, keep it together!

Feel free to use as few or as many of these ideas as you would like. Above all, your space is yours, so the most important factor is that you feel comfortable in your environment, and that it provides a variety of cozy nooks where you are able to both focus on assignments and study as well as unwind and relax.

Below, I have attached a couple of links that contain even more ideas to brighten up your study area and help you get stuff done! Stay healthy, and happy working everyone!

If Your Office is Separate from Your Bedroom:

https://www.thespruce.com/office-decor-tips-to-maximize-your-productivity-4151800

https://www.staffsquared.com/blog/how-to-make-your-office-space-look-fun-yet-professional/

If Your Office Is Your Bedroom:

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/decorating-ideas/g1727/bedroom-makeover-ideas/?slide=17

https://www.thespruce.com/ways-to-transform-a-boring-bedroom-350734

P.S. I guess now would be a good time to finally begin the room renovation that I have been saying I’ll do for months…

“The Necessity of Risk in Personal Development” by Carlos Benito

As any UD student can attest to, risk is an everyday part of our lives. The vast majority of us risked 4 years at this university in the hope to be rewarded by a stable, well paying job that brings us some amount of happiness. However, it is essential that we use these 4 years to take risks that we are not be able to in the future. At no other point in our lifetime will we have as dense of a concentration of resources as we do now, and it would be a great personal loss if we didn’t capitalize on them.

This university provides a vast amount of opportunities — from academic opportunities to opportunities to improve your health and so many more. Although some of these opportunities entail a financial risk, most only require a time commitment. I would argue that these opportunities are the highest risk opportunities because they all ask for a piece of our most valuable resource: time. Time, or our frequent lack of it, drives many of our daily decisions and prevents us from developing into our best selves. Every moment we commit to a new activity risks losing time that we can never get back.

However, our generation has a unique relationship with risk that jeopardizes our personal development. Most of us were around 7-11 years old when the 2008 recession hit, and that single event changed us all forever. We all watched our parents get laid off or take second jobs in order to make ends meet and heard their lectures about getting a good job. Now, more than anything else, our generation strives for job security, a foundation to a happy middle class lifestyle. We all saw the emotional toll job insecurity had on our parents and we all still fear a similar fate. In order to overcome this fear we first have to accept a very terrifying reality: job security is a myth. Job security was a given when our parents were growing up, but now it’s impossible to spend a whole career in one company, and no company wants to invest in the training and development of their workforce. So, we are left to train ourselves for a position that we may not be in for very long. We have to risk our own time and money for job training, yet we do not know whether it will be worthwhile. 

That is what we are all doing at the moment, risking our time and money in the hopes that it will pay off. No can say for sure if it will, but what we can say is if you already took this kind of risk, there is no reason to be afraid of taking a few much smaller ones. Take a gym class you have never seen, minor in something that will give you a unique skill, or even start a club or business. We all have taken a huge risk, but by taking a few smaller chances, no matter how our big gamble is, we will have the knowledge and experience to figure it out.

“Learning to Inspire Positive Change” by Abhigna Rao

On Sunday, March 1, 2020, I attended the highly anticipated Changemakers Conference on campus. A changemaker is defined as someone who has a desire to change something about the world and uses imagination, empathy, and collaboration in the right ways to create that change. 

This is the first year that a concept of a conference surrounding that idea has come to life. The day was broken down into sessions, some of which were required for everyone to attend together, and some of which we had workshop options to choose from. 

I had an amazing time there, developing new skills and networking with other students while I was at it. So, to give you a little glimpse into my day at the conference, I’m going to take you through my itinerary and share some key ideas that I learned at each session I attended!

Check-In & Morning Session: The morning session was held in the Trabant Multipurpose Rooms with all conference attendees. Susan Luchey, the Conference Chair, welcomed us, introduced how this conference came together and what she hoped we would take away from it, and really got us in the open and determined mindset that we would need for the workshops. 

Opening Keynote with Bryan Terrell Clark: Next up was a phenomenal speech by the one and only Bryan Terrell Clark. Clark is an actor, singer, songwriter, and plays George Washington on a little show called Hamilton on Broadway! He is also the co-founder of an initiative called inDEFINED, through which he teaches others how to use their spheres of influence to work towards eliminating societal labels. In his presentation, Clark talked a lot about his childhood experiences and his parental influences, how those shaped his upbringing, and what he learned from them. Here are some key points that I took away:

  • Build up enough passion to fuel the long journey that change takes. 
  • Talent and execution are not enough to be a leader—you need to believe in yourself.
  • Develop a connection with your inner voice: there is guidance within you that ALWAYS leads you to safety and success. Listen to it and strengthen your relationship with it now so that when you need it, you can trust it.
  • Master what you manifest: thoughts become things, and you can become a leader if you learn to command your thoughts.
  • Purpose is when your gifts and talents meet a need. 
  • Happiness comes when you become clear on both your passion and your purpose and they both align with one another. 
  • When you are fighting for change, you cannot pick topics out of a hat. It needs to be connected to you; it needs to make you feel something.
  • It’s not always about attacking the big idea—start with your own sphere of influence and begin with the people you know.
  • You can be powerful beyond measure if you connect with yourself. 
  • Do your best to be your authentic self.

Brunch: After that amazing and inspiring speech, we headed to the Trabant Food Court for brunch. There was a great spread, including pancakes, eggs, fruits, and coffee. I attended the conference with some of my residents in Redding, and it was great to reflect on Clark’s words and talk about the sessions we planned to attend over a delicious meal.

Breakout Session 1: The first session I attended was called “Design Your Leadership Like an Entrepreneur.” The workshop was led by Dr. Anthony Middlebrooks, an Associate Professor in Community Organization and Leadership here at UD, along with some of his students. The purpose of this workshop was to teach students how to enhance their performance as a leader by reframing problems as opportunities and embracing the following mindset:

  • Leadership is the process of influencing others towards a common goal.
  • Entrepreneurship is pursuing the creation, delivery, and capture of values from new ideas.
  • The debilitating myth of musical chairs: if there is no room for you, it doesn’t mean you’re out. Bring your own chair to the game, or better yet, start your own table. 
  • Let go of attachments that are leading you in the opposite direction of where you want to go.
  • Reframe problems as opportunities. For instance, instead of seeing a team member as rigid and uncooperative, seeing them instead as organized, assertive, and independent will allow you to seek out ways to work with them.
  • Unique value proposition: recognize what unique values you bring and think about how you want to communicate that.
  • Think about the resources and aspects of your life that you can better utilize—something you may need could have been right in front of you the whole time!
  • Avoid self-sabotaging thoughts and reinforce yourself with positive affirmations.
  • Everything you need is already within you.

Afternoon Keynote with Toshia Shaw: Toshia Shaw is a published author, speaker, spiritual life coach, holistic mental health professional, and a survivor of trauma. She is the founder of the Purple W.I.N.G.S. nonprofit organization, which works towards helping and empowering young girls who suffered from drug addiction, sexual trauma, domestic violence, and other traumatic experiences. In her talk, she talked a lot about her personal experiences with trauma, and how it shaped the way that she saw and thought about the world around her. Here are some important things I learned: 

  • Don’t allow the way a person looks to be a factor in what you think of that individual.
  • Transforming means surrendering yourself to a higher purpose. Find out what that is, and then live and walk your truth.
  • Sometimes we complain about what needs to be done because we are waiting for someone else to do it. But maybe that someone is you.
  • It is not enough to acknowledge what needs to be changed, it is your responsibility to change it.

Breakout Session 2: The second session I attended was called “How to Solve Any Problem,” presented by Nishant Chintala and Garrett Currie, UD students and coaches of the Collegiate Leadership Competition Team. They taught us that problems are usually how to solve the problem, not the problem itself. We learned how to approach any problem with the SOLVE strategy, which is an especially useful method when the solution to an issue is not obvious. We participated in a team activity that involved making 60 paper airplanes at our tables in 6 minutes, which we repeated again at the end of the workshop after learning the SOLVE method. Here it is, outlined below:

  • Set Roles: determine necessary roles, distribute strengths, adapt to obstacles.
  • Outline the Problem: define problem, set rules, explore potential setbacks, ask questions.
  • List Multiple Strategies: brainstorm different paths, utilize relevant experiences.
  • Veer Towards Consensus: hear all voices, choose three solid ideas, move forward with top.
  • Evaluate the Results: schedule pause points to check progress, develop improved plan.

The take-home message of the presentation was when solving problems, embrace chaos, be open to new ideas, learn from failure, and be fearless. Even though you may find yourself uncomfortable at first, from discomfort comes growth, which is what being a leader is all about.

Dessert & Coffee: I guess now would be an ideal time for my monthly #CoffeeRoast! The food, snacks, and coffee for this event overall was provided generously by UD Catering, so I do feel a little obligated to promote their concessions.  I will say that the coffee was decent enough, but not what I would opt for on a daily basis. However, it was FREE, which was unlike the brews I usually order, so this one gets an A+ in my book. In addition to cups of caffeine, Insomnia cookies were present. I indulged in a double chocolate chunk cookie and smuggled a chocolate chip and M&M cookie for later. 

Closing Keynote with Nyle DiMarco: Nyle DiMarco is a model, actor, dancer, and an activist for the Deaf. Being Deaf since birth himself, he is known for putting forth major efforts to de-stigmatize disabilities and creating opportunities that are not available for people who are hard of hearing or live with complete Deafness. Through his talk, he spoke about his experiences as the first Deaf contestant on America’s Next Top Model as well as Dancing with the Stars, and how he went on to win both competitions despite the many challenges he faced while in the spotlight. Every day, he works towards using his influence and platform to expand his reach and advocate for language and literacy equality. This was an incredible speech to watch, as DiMarco signed everything he wanted to say while having an interpreter speak his gestures. This is what I learned from him: 

  • Never let what you might think is a setback stop you from achieving your goals. Instead, find a novel way to let it be your strength.
  • There is so much power that comes with not letting what people do and say bother you and truly loving who you are.
  • Don’t try to fix something that is not broken: our identities are all we have.
  • Come up with your own definition of what it means to be yourself, and let that be the driving factor in your journey.
  • Trust that you have the strength to solve your own problems. 

Conference Wrap-Up and Call to Action: After the final keynote, we were joined by Susan Luchey once again, who provided us with an action plan that change cannot start without:

  • Start with brainstorming what bothers you on your campus, in your community, in the world, and in your personal life.
  • Decide which of those problems you are most passionate about, and zero in on how you can realistically create change surrounding it. 
  • Once you have identified the problem, conduct research surrounding who is responsible for the cause, what conditions contribute to the problem, when the problem originated, why it is important to you, and how it impacts you, your campus, your community, and the world.
  • Find out what resources and data you need to develop solutions, who else has or is currently tackling the problem, what has been done already towards this cause, and become and expert on the issue.
  • Brainstorm as many possible solutions as you can by moving from general to specific answers, combining ideas with others, breaking down ideas into more detailed pieces, prioritizing, and exercising zero judgement.
  • Figure out ways in which you can generate support for your cause. Make goals, develop a strategy, outline tasks, set a timeline, and create an assessment plan to measure your progress and success.
  • Implement!

And that wrapped up my day at Changemakers! I was extremely impressed with how well put together this occasion was, and especially with the effort the organizers put towards making this event as welcoming, accessible, and inclusive as possible. It was truly a phenomenal conference, and one that I hope to experience again next year!

Below, I have attached three links, which will take you to previous documented talks given by the keynote speakers from Changemakers that are similar to what they spoke about last Sunday. I encourage you to watch them, and I hope you learn something new that motivates you to inspire positive change yourself!

Bryan Terrell Clark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXsN5Y0O3TM

Toshia Shaw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duxIbG01HNs

Nyle DiMarco: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_Q7axl4oXY

And in case you would like to check out the conference page to see more about what it was all about and get motivated to attend next year: 

Changemakers Conference Homepage: https://sites.udel.edu/usc/change-makers/

 

“My Research Experience” by Brittany Connely

Research. Honestly, the thought of it is simultaneously exciting and intimidating. Everyone tells you to get involved as soon as possible, especially when you’re on the path towards medical and graduate school.

 But how do you even get involved? When I was a freshman in the honors program this was my main question. It was daunting, all the people I had met just said to email around and ask professors if they had spots open in their labs, to just look around and explore. You might get rejected, but I was told I’d eventually find a place right for me. I was overall lost in the whole process though. I didn’t have any idea of what to do research in and if I was even interested in pursuing it while in college. I only knew that’s what others said I should do.

So when I was scrolling through Handshake and saw a job listing for a student research assistant, I applied. I was nervous, scared I wasn’t going to have the skills needed, and wondering what it would even be like. Little did I know, interviewing for that new position would lead me down a whole new path.

I am now part of the University of Delaware Center of Health Assessment Research and Translation as a research assistant. My main job has been coding, but not in the traditional sense that most people would think of. I go through transcripts of past study groups and apply a codebook to them in a program called “Nvivo”. The goal of my part of this is to find which symptoms correspond and overlap for people with major injuries such as traumatic brain injuries (TBI).

I absolutely love my job and being part of this research project. While going through 70 page transcripts doesn’t sound exciting, being able to read and hear about people’s stories makes the time pass by. Through reading the effects one’s injury has had on their life not only physically but emotionally, I feel like I am learning another side to the story. As a neuroscience major I have learned about the causes and effects and symptoms of certain things like TBI, however, my job allows me to be in someone else’s shoes and see it not just through the eye of a clinician but also a patient.

This was not what I expected research to be like. Honestly, when I was first looking into research I was expecting to be in a lab doing benchwork. But through learning more about clinical research, I have discovered a whole new world that I want to continue being part of. I believe learning more not only about issues medically but also how they affect others in different ways will make me a better doctor and help me on the path towards my future career.

I think that being part of something new and constantly evolving is thrilling. Being involved in research is something I am extremely grateful for and think that everyone should at least try to do once. So I encourage you to gain the courage, take a chance, and email that professor and or apply for the position. You never know how much impact it’ll have on you unless you try. 

 

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