Category: academics Page 9 of 14

I hate exams. They are stressful, exhausting, challenging, and tedious (and I could add many words to this list). But even though there are many other things I would rather be doing, they are a part of the life of a student. Here are a few things that make my studying less stressful and more productive.

1. Make a schedule: There’s always a lot of content to sift through, so making a schedule for the day is helpful to decide when I am studying for which subject and how much I want to do at once. Breaking things up into smaller sections makes them feel more manageable.

2. Eat healthy snacks: It’s important to make sure that you are eating well so that you have enough energy to focus. Even though it’s tempting to drink a lot of coffee, if you drink too much you’ll be jittery. And remember to drink water!

3. Sleep: I am one of the biggest culprits of this, but staying up late to study for a few more hours will often hurt you more than it will help. When I get a good night’s sleep the night before an exam (at least 8 hours), I can remember the stuff I studied better than if I tried to cram in a few more chapters late at night.

4. Get Exercise: Stand up and move! Go for a walk, do yoga or jumping jacks. It helps you stay healthy – mentally and emotionally as well as physically – so that you’ll be able to focus more when you study.

5. Reward Yourself: Set goals, and when you meet them, give yourself a treat. Whether it’s watching an episode of your favourite TV show, buying a fancy latte, or visiting with friends, these breaks will help you stay positive and focused when it’s time to hit the books.

6. Teach Someone: When you talk through a concept to explain it to someone else, it helps you gain a better understanding of the ideas yourself. When I explain questions to friends, it helps me remember and answer them more concisely on exams.

7. Find a Comfortable Study Space: It’s important to find a place where you are comfortable. I like to study in places that have lots of light, where there are people around me and I can spread out my books. This will be different for everyone, so find what works for you.

Over time, you will learn what works best for you, how to study, and how to stay calm. And in the end, whether you’ve received the best grade you can imagine or the worst, remember that the mark does not define who you are.

Laura

I’m in my third year of International Development Studies, and I think development is something we all need in our lives. Despite popular belief, development isn’t something that an individual can take and deliver to someone in need like pizza. It’s a process which explores important questions of privilege and power imbalances. It teaches individuals to build relationships centred around trust and respect.

At CMU, we are encouraged and challenged to understand how our perception and theorists’ definitions of development is defined by worldviews and values. It is difficult to provide a simple and concise definition of development because good development is fluid, taking the shape of the context and people that create it.

On the other hand, destructive development can be easier to define. A development worker once shared with me a story. She knew a development worker who was riding to the city in a packed community bus through winding roads. Someone got car sick and threw up all over the floor of the bus. No one in the bus seemed disgusted or did anything to clean the mess that seemed to be spreading. Grandparents hopped over the mess and women carrying chickens struggled to navigate their way around it with their children.

The development worker could not believe no one was cleaning the mess and decided that he was going to use his newspaper  to cover it. While the bus waited on the side of the street for individuals to lower their produce from the roof of the bus, he quickly covered all the mess. The worker went back to his seat.

To his horror, as soon as the bus started moving, the wind came through the open windows and caused the newspaper to fly around the bus and smack passengers in the face. The worker slouched on his chair and pretended to take a nap for the rest of the trip! He was unaware that everyone was waiting for the next bus stop, which was near a house where the driver was planning to clean up the mess with a bucket and mop.

That story helped me understand that even with the best of intentions, we can cause harm to those we hope to help. As development practitioners, we need to be attentive to local knowledge – and remember that eating before a bus ride can be a bad idea!

César

My name is Sara and I’m in my second year at CMU in the Environmental Studies program. I love God’s creation and have always been interested in the mysteries of the natural world. My mom jokes that “metamorphosis” was one of my first words (metamorphosis is the transformation of an immature form of an insect to it’s adult form, or the process by which a caterpillar turns into a butterfly).

Sara works with classmates in a small, professor-directed lab at CMU.

A dream that I’ve held my whole life is to be Ms. Frizzle, the crazy science teacher with a magic school bus. I probably won’t be able to take students into space or inside the human body for a field trip, but it’s Ms. Frizzle’s excitement and passion which I want to replicate if I get to become a biology teacher. I enjoyed science and specifically biology in high school when I began understanding the concepts of DNA and genetics. These discoveries excited me, and if I haven’t convinced you that biology is super cool, then I can show you some of the pictures I have of meiosis or you can take a look through the microscope I got for Christmas in grade nine.

After I graduated from Linden Christian School in Winnipeg, I took a year to go to Capernwray Bible school in England. My next step was university. I’d heard great things about CMU and have now experienced them. I got to be in small classes of about 25 people in my first year biology courses, and I had one-on-one help from my professor in my labs. That was worth so much. You would not be able to get this at other universities in your first year.

The professors at CMU are passionate and want to share their excitement with us students. When I talk with Rachel Krause, one of our biology professors, about her work, I can tell she enjoys it. She’s helping me figure out how to reach my goal of becoming a teacher. At CMU people truly care about you and your goals.

It is nice to be in a place where I am taught about God’s creation and have classes like Ecology, Environment, and the Bible, where I can learn the biblical perspective on topics covered in my other classes. At CMU, it is recognized that science is more than what is physically in front of you; science can also be a way for us to see the majesty of God.

I encourage you to consider CMU for yourself and become part of this vibrant learning community.

Guest blogger Sara is an Environmental Studies student.

This year’s Burkina Faso Outtatown spent a morning picking “earth peas” with a farmer and his 4-yr-old son.

When I finished high school, I had no clue what I wanted to do. I decided to take a break from school, hoping to discover what I was passionate about. I ended up on the Outtatown French Africa program.

We spent three months travelling through Francophone Canada (Winnipeg, Quebec City, and Montreal); Burkina Faso (in West Africa); and France. Over this time, we volunteered with many organizations, where we met interesting people and were pushed to look at the world in a different way.

Outtatown’s motto is, “knowing God, knowing yourself, knowing the world,” and this is the best way to summarize my experience.

Knowing God

In Outtatown, I learned that God speaks in so many ways. Through conversations with people in my group from different faith backgrounds, I began to see God beyond my own experience. I learned to worship in new ways, both in Canada and Burkina Faso. By witnessing how those around me lived their faith, I was challenged to grow in new ways and pay closer attention to God’s presence in my own life.

Knowing Yourself

I realized that I was capable of more than I gave myself credit for. Being surrounded by a loving community, I was able to do things that I never would have been able to do otherwise. I went bungee jumping, even though I am terrified of heights, and learned that I love adventuring. I also realized that I am passionate about building relationships with people who have a different story than myself, and asking what it would look like if the world was just. This love of adventure and social justice has continued in my studies and as I seek out new opportunities for adventure.

Knowing the World

I experienced a world that is broken and hurting, but filled with courageous people. Through my readings and conversations, I was struck by poverty as well as the people making a difference. Though the world can feel hopeless in the face of such issues, the people I met lived with the hope that things can change, and called me to that as well.

Every time people ask me about my experience, I answer that it was one of the best choices I ever made. It was a time when I was supported in asking questions, had a lot of fun, and learned what it meant to grow and change.

Laura

The Outtatown visit day is November 23! Sign up here.