Eight tips for student success
From Volume 3, Number 7 — September 3, 2009
View from the Strip
By Casey Lessard
While I usually let my mother take care of dispensing advice in her column, as I prepare to return to teaching at Humber College next week, I thought I’d share some ideas to help students succeed this year. Most of the points are true for high school, too.
- Go to every class. Be on time and stay until the end. You can’t help but learn something, and besides, it’s what you’re actually paying for (not the piece of paper at the end).
- Participate constructively. Be engaged in a constructive manner, and not only will your teacher notice you, but they’ll remember your name when it comes time to mark. One university professor raised my mark by 10 per cent just because I came to class and participated (I did the math, so I’m sure of this).
- Hand every assignment in, and do your best. As the year goes on, I mark much harder. It’s always surprises students to discover that the one assignment they didn’t bother to hand in took their mark from an A to a D. Or from a B to a fail.
- Get involved. Do something other than classes. Anything. Whether it’s intramurals or foot patrol, campus media or activist groups, you’ll meet new people and enjoy your degree more. Campus radio was my entrée to a journalism career.
- Be friendly. Be someone people want to talk to. You never know when you will need a copy of someone’s notes, or a place to crash after a night out. You also don’t know who’s going to be able to get you a job when you graduate.
- Don’t date people you live with. For high school students, this means your brother or sister. Treat your floormates or housemates likewise.
- Use your time and money wisely; you don’t have a lot of either. Both will disappear very quickly, and people who plan well will be rewarded at the end. I still struggle with this one.
- Enjoy yourself. A new school gives you the opportunity to reinvent yourself and rejuvenate your spirit. These years could be remembered as the best times of your life. It’s really up to you how you remember them and it’s all in your approach from the beginning.
I’m now taking names for people interested in my Grand Bend photo classes. Please call or email me.