Stress Stats

• 85 percent of students reported feeling stressed on a daily basis.

•   Academic concerns like schoolwork and grades, with 77 percent and 74 percent respectively, maintain their positions as the top drivers of student stress, even over financial woes in today’s economy.
• Six out of 10 students report having felt so stressed they couldn’t get their work done on one or more occasions.    
• Since starting college, over 70 percent of students have not considered talking to a counselor to help them deal with stress or other emotional issues.
• 75 to 90 percent of all visits made to the doctor are related to stress
• Stress has been called “the silent killer” and can lead to heart disease, high blood pressure, chest pain, and an irregular heartbeat

 

• Laughing lowers stress hormones (like cortisol, epinephrine, and adrenaline) and strengthens the immune system by releasing health-enhancing hormones.  

•  Stress can result in more headaches as a result of the body rerouting blood flow to other parts of the body. 

• Stimulants keep the body from relaxing and can overtax your body. It is also important to know that you can overdose on caffeine!

Personal Interview

Student Interviews on Stress

Stressed Out: The true plight of college students

Stressed Out: The true plight of college students

 April is the month where spring  blossoms. A month full of fresh flowers, afternoon showers, and sunny days in the park.  However to college students around the country it is crunch time. Spring break is over and finals are coming. Students are constantly running around trying study, kiss up to professors for a little extra help, find jobs for the summer and get their schedules ready for the upcoming year.  Procrastination and frustration spread around the campus with an unrecognizable   force. 

Naturally, trying to balance all of these things at once can cause a lot of stress. Everyone knows  that college students are stressed out, what  most people fail to realize are the damaging sides effects of stress to the body and mind.
Students all over the country are trying to figure out how to deal with stress. Shomik Gibson is finishing up her sophomore year at Wake Forrest University in Winston Salem, NC. Gibson explains that stress is never ending for her and at sometimes is a combination of worry and paranoia.

" Its like as soon as you finish one thing there is something else due. Even when I am doing work; I'm constantly thinking about other work and its exhausting.", Gibson said. 

Stress is defined as "Any outside force or event that causes mental or bodily tension." (definitionofstress.com) There are a lot of stressful factors that college students have to deal with.  Going to college is a big change. Students are bombarded with multiple responsibilities at once. 

Finances- Students are now living on their own as well as having to figure out a way to finance their own education. They have to find jobs, scholarships, and loans to get by.

Academic performance- Worrying about  grades can cause students to experience stress anxiety, insomnia and unhealthy changes in appetite. The never ending pile of papers, projects, and presentations is overwhelming.

Relationships- New friendships and dating can cause a lot of stress. Arguments with friends or significant others can cause anxiety as well. While strong social support can be a way of relieving stress finding the right balance and the right people is not an easy task.

Poor Nutrition- Sometimes with limited time and unlimited responsibilities and obligations. Students fit eating into there schedule instead of scheduling time to eat. The access to fast food, convenience stores, and snacks  makes it easier to submit to those finance friendly golden arches or the almighty ramen.

An ongoing state of stress can affect students bodies physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Students may experience aches and pains, changes in weight, sleep issues, compromised immune system, and heart issues.

"I feel like its never going to end; like I'm trapped in a maze and I cant find my way out.", said junior Kourtland Hale.  

According to a survey conducted by the Associated Press and MTV 1 in 5 undergraduate students are constantly stressed. The students explained that they always feel agitated or stress. The survey also found that 1 in 6 students have had friends in the past year who considered suicide and 1 in 10 said they have considered it themselves. 13 percent said that they have been diagnosed with anxiety or depression. With millions of students enrolled in colleges and universities throughout the country this statistic is frightening.

At times it can seem like professors are unreasonable and seem to forget that students have other classes, work and lives outside of school but there are professors who understand. Dr. Darren Ritzer is a psychology professor at Winthrop University. In his classes he tries to lighten the mood and boost morale with jokes and sarcasm. Ritzer talks to students about what anxiety and stress can do to the body as well as ways to try and reduce stress. Getting enough sleep is one of the most important morsels of advice he gives. Ritzer explains that while most people think that you have to have the 8 hours of sleep a night that what really helps your body out is getting the same amount of sleep every night.  Ritzer reminds his students that school is hard work and that hard work is inevitable and life is not always fair. He jokingly reminds his students that "Life is a crap sandwich eat it or starve".

 The future for college students does not look much better.  With a troubled economy students are worried about finding a decent job and living on their own.  The stress is not going any where all we can do is try to relieve as much stress as possible.

Many universities have health and wellness centers where students can go and talk to counselors or see a doctor on campus.  Winthrop students can go to the Winthrop website or Crawford to set up an appointment with health and counseling services The University of Georgia has a whole website dedicated to helping students figure out how to manage stress as well as Dartmouth whose website includes information on stress, anxiety, and test taking tips  Some other common ways to relieve stress are to exercise and practice relaxation techniques like deep breathing.  You can also listen to music or find a hobby just find something that makes you happy and calm. 

Stress Relief Slideshow

Stress Infographic

The academic topic of  my story is stress on college students. I wanted to focus in on the effects stress can have on the mind and body  as well as ways to prevent stress and promote healthy balanced lifestyles. This infographic gives some interesting information about stress and college students.

STD Infographic for STD Awareness Month

Here is my first infographic

STD Infographic for STD Awareness Month

My Hometown : A short map of SPartanburg SC

View Spartanburg SC in a larger map

Raw Video

2012 Election Interviews

WU After Hours Tour

FCC commissioner and ESPN assignment editor visit WU

Feb. 27 through Mar. 1 was Mass Com week here at Winthrop. Every day a different professional in the industry came to the school and spoke on about their experiences and networked with multiple eager students. I was sick this past week but I did make it to two of the events. I was able to hear a little of FCC commissioner, Mignon Clyburn speak on Monday and on Thursday I got to eat lunch with ESPN assignment editor, Nicole Coffey!  When I heard Clyburn speak  I thought it was very good considering she lost her voice before coming to the event.  She talked about the increasing use of mobile devices in America and how there is such a high demand for broadband access that there may not be enough to go around. This was interesting to me, I never really considered broadband access as something that could limited. She also talked about how there are millions of people in this country that do not have broadband in  a lot of rural communities and how she is working with the FCC to promote broadband in more rural communities. I really liked the event but I wished that commissioner Clyburn would have had more time to talk about herself and her career. I would have loved to hear any tips or interesting stories from her past. 

 On Thursday Nicole Coffey  was here early that morning talking to students and giving advice while I was working. I have to say that I took my time doing the recycling just so I could here some of the advice she was giving students.  I was lucky enough to be in the right time at the place because earlier in the week there was a Post it war, where different groups had to make pictures out  Post-It notes.

Lucky for me the department put on luncheon for the participants and because I was working I had to help set up and because Ms. Jamie is the nicest boss ever I got enjoy the festivities with everyone else including Nicole Coffey! She was very nice. I told her that while I do not know anything about sports that I love to write and I’m very good with research.  I talked to her about how when I came to Winthrop I was convinced that I wanted to in front of a camera on tv or behind a mike on the radio, that I had dreamt of it since I was 6. Of course after hearing that my voice was too soft, that I sounded like a 4-year-old, that producers wouldn’t know where to put me in the lineup,  that I was too smart to be on air, and plenty of other discouraging comments from radio professionals. I realized that I liked being behind the camera, directing, instructing, or writing and controlling the equipment in a radio station much better than speaking on camera.

She told me that it was goo d that I realized that early on in college and that as long as I can write I could always find a job. I  really enjoyed talking to her. I thought that it was really cool that she went to Winthrop. She told me how she stayed in Phelps her first two years and then moved off campus and other little interesting things about Winthrop. I thought it was a great opportunity to meet her and actually have a conversation with her.  I hate that I did not get to attend all the events for mass com week , my allergies picked the worst time to act up. But the events I was able to attend were really great and I cant wait for next year’s Mass Com week! 

Cover It Live: Matilda

Cover It Live

Promoting Social Change through Theatre

Social Media Tips

6 Ways To Find Stories and Readers with Social Media in minutes

1. Pay attention to popular trending topics to see what is on everyone's mind

2. LINKS ARE YOUR FRIEND!!!!! Include links in your posts to your blog, story or any other information you want people to see. Links are enticing, people feel compelled to click them!

3. Posts links to your blog on face book and twitter as soon as you create a new post

4. Become allies with other popular bloggers and promote each other

5.Ask your friends and followers what they care about or they have any input on a subject... the comments will overwhelm you.

6. Don't think of a character limit as a bad thing. Think of it as an opportunity or a challenge to get as find a new creative way to attract readers to your story or post. Find the most provocative parts, slap on some alluring verbs, and leave something to the imagination and you'll have readers anticipating your tweets.

These tips were inspired by Journalism Next by Mark Briggs.

First Model UN Speech

This Winthrop Life Interview

Gossip

The story I chose to listen to was a story about gossip. The story had a lot of different angles. In the first act one of the producers of the show and her husband recalled and an experience they had with gossip at a hair salon. 

The second part involved a young woman from Malawi explaining how people there depend on gossip to save their lives. With so many people infected with HIV in Malawi gossip is sometimes the only way to find out who is safe to go out with and who is not.  There was also a professor from U Penn who hired local people to record all the gossip and other things they heard about aids so that she could compile the journals into a research project and publish them. 

The last portion of the story was a short story written by Rebecca Makkai. The story was about a reality television producer who was asked by her boss to try and use gossip to make two contestants on fall in love.

I felt that this story really embodied the narrative devices that were discussed in class and on Campfire Journalism. The story was interesting and had multiple angle like the three interviews with very diverse people and the short story. With the interviews the host wad very engaged in the conversation and and kept the people being interviewed engaged and interested as well as the audience.  I felt the addition of music that mirrored the theme of the segment really helped pull everything together as well. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/444/gossip

Winthrop University celebrates the life of MLK through service

On Monday Jan. 16.  208 students volunteered to do  various  service projects in the Rock Hill area.

The MLK celebration at Winthrop also included a candle light vigil and celebreation of liffe event on campus to unite students and community members in honor of Dr. King. 

GOP forerunner Mitt Romney visits WU

Mitt Romney's visit to Winthrop University on Wednesday has been confirmed by two reliable sources

Potential candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, Mitt Romney will be in McBryde Hall on Wednesday Jan. 18 to talk to students and community members days before the South Carolina primary on Jan. 21.

SC teens involved in ' choking game' lawsuit receive $1m award

Two SC teens and their families will each receive $500,00 after winning a $1m verdict in civil case against  Operation: Military Kids, Clemson and its Youth Learning Institute and Camp Bob Cooper.

In 2008 the two boys were forced allegedly forced to play the "choking game" by 17- year-old volunteer counselor Ronald Edward Riley.  The "choking game" is a practice of teens and tweens that can cause a brief high through strangulation and comes with the risk of serious injury or death.  Clemson University Spokeswoman Cathy Sims believes that the award was "excessive and is not supported by facts in the case" and said that the school plans to appeal. 

Hamster Hoarding

 A Massachusetts man donates 94 of his furry friends to local animal shelter after running out of space in his apartment.

The owner of the hamsters, who did  not want to be identified, told an animal control officer that he started keeping hamsters five years ago. The  director of the shelter explains that all of the rodents were well cared for and will make nice pets. 

 Election 2012 "Off and Running"

Election Forum at Winthrop University  allows students and  community members to express their concerns for 2012 election

Election 2012 "Off and Running is an interactive forum where  community members  can come to collectively discuss  their concerns for the 2012 elections and the issues that are important to them.
The event will be held at Winthrop University tonight at 7:30 p.m and will be hosted by WFAE's Mike Collins.

The First post on my first blog! I had some trouble getting it started but i finally got it and new posts will be coming soon!