Life at UIW

It seems very ironic that I begin this blog about life at UIW during the last week of classes - it's hardly the time to talk about beginnings when we are nearing the end of another busy semester!  Right now all of our students, Freshman through Seniors, are finishing projects, writing papers, and studying for exams.  However, despite the end-of-the-semester bedlam, much of the work our students do is actually paced throughout the semester. 

On the first day of classes students receive a syllabus and course outline, or schedule, for each class which lists all deadlines, due dates, and assignments so there are no surprises about the requirements for the course.  I would say the most challenging thing about college is time management and planning.  Many of our students balance school, work, family, and extracurricular activities, which means that they have to juggle lots of tasks at once.  This is often difficult for Freshmen because they have to adapt to college life and college-level work in addition to all of their outside responsabilities and interests.  I find that my most successful students are organized and leave themselves enough time to do things so that assignments and due dates don't sneak up on them.   

The other important thing about time management is that our students are very involved in campus organizations and athletics.  Getting a college education is about more than what happens in the classroom!  UIW is a very energetic place where at any given moment you can find students hanging out at Starbucks, watching a basketball game, raising money for a worthy cause, or singing outside the Campus Ministries office. 

In about 2 weeks I will watch students who were 17 or 18 when they first walked into my office proudly cross the stage to receive their diplomas.  As I watch them, I know I will marvel at how much they've changed, how hard they've worked, and how many exciting things are in store for them.  The wondeful thing about UIW is that our students have a whole community of people working as hard as they can to help each and every one of them get to that stage!