HOW TO COPE WITH ACADEMIC STRESS AS AN UNDERGRADUATE

College, obviously requires significantly more effort from students than high school.  Once you enter college, you will probably find that your fellow students are more motivated, your instructors are more demanding, the work is more difficult, and you are expected to be more independent. These higher academic standards and expectations are even more evident in graduate school. As a result of these new demands, it is common for college students to experience greater levels of stress related to academics.

Many students find that they need to develop new skills in order to balance academic demands with a healthy lifestyle.  Fortunately, the University of Michigan offers many resources to help students develop these skills.  Many students find that they can reduce their level of academic stress by improving skills such as time management, stress management, and relaxation.

Whether it’s your parents pushing you to boost your GPA, teachers criticizing you for a less-than-stellar test scores, or your own drive to get in to your first-choice college — or some combination of the three — academic pressure can get the best of you if you don’t learn how to deal with it properly.

 

The Pros and Cons of Stress

Stress is anything that alters your natural balance. When stress is present, your body and your mind must attend to it in order to return you to balance. Your body reacts to stress by releasing hormones that help you cope with the situation.  That in turn takes energy away from the other functions of your brain, like concentrating, or taking action.  There are two different sources of stress: external triggers, like getting a poor grade or breaking up with your girlfriend/boyfriend, and internal triggers, like placing high expectations on yourself. We are stressed from academics while trying to meet up with academic demands, our parents/guardians, multiple assignments, and exams. Stress is bad for our health and brains, this why we have less productivity when we are stressed.

Hence, we will be sharing few tips with you on “HOW TO PREVENT STRESS, AN INTERVIEW WITH A psychotherapist who has helped countless teens cope with school stresses, about her best tips for managing academic anxiety. Scroll down for five helpful ways to get through your high school years with less stress.

1. Take time for self-care.

He emphasizes that you have to start with the basics, like sleep. “You have to give your organism the means to cope with stress, and that includes healthy food, non-harmful substances, sleep (dramatically more than most kids think they need), down time… Building into your day right-brain activity that lets you digest what you’ve been going through and process it. Those are some basic and almost biological needs we have.”

Taking time to pause from the relentless pace of everyday life and enjoy creative activities that keep you from dwelling on or stressing over school pressures can go far in decreasing your stress levels.

2. Learn to change your thinking.

“You cannot get stressed out unless you believe your thoughts,” says Stiffelman. “All stress is precipitated by stressful thinking.”

When you start stressing about not finishing your project on time, your mind builds a case for why what you believe is going to happen will happen — and this can be paralyzing. So, when combating negative thinking patterns, he recommends coming up with specific examples to counter the stressful thoughts. Think instead of concrete ways that you can create the time to work on a project, and how your previous line of thinking isn’t accurate.

3. Take assignments one baby step at a time.

He however, advises her young clients to chunk their work down into manageable, bite-sized portions that feel less overwhelming than looking at the big picture. If you have an essay to write that’s making you feel anxious, list the individual steps that lead to the destination of the essay being finished (finding sources, creating an outline, writing an intro), and the task will begin to feel less daunting.

“List what you have going on, and list how much time each thing is going to take,” she suggests. “Chunking things down makes them feel more manageable and less anxiety-inducing.”

4. Lower your goals.

No, we’re not talking about being a slacker. According to Stiffelman, following the truism “Lower your goals, you’ll achieve more,” can help to relieve stress and boost academic success.

Instead of setting your goal to be getting the highest grade in the class, set a goal to feel satisfied with your performance.

5. Stay balanced during exam periods.

The importance of taking breaks and working in time to relax during your busiest and most stressful periods can’t be overestimated, Stiffelman urges. Not matter how hard you push yourself, nobody can maintain constant focus, and you will burn yourself out if you try. Take frequent, short breaks for fun activities so that you’ll be able to go back to your writing or studying refreshed.

“Do something that, even for 15 minutes, brings you back to yourself,” says Stiffelman. “I’ll often say, ‘What did you love to do when you were six years old?’ Do a little bit of that when you’re in prep mode to counterbalance the stress — no brain can work for 24 hours non stop.”

 

Tell us: How do you cope with pressure at school? Do you think schools have a responsibility to help their students manage stress?

10 Things You Should Do Before Your Final Year In School

By this time in the next few years or so, you would have been rounding off your undergraduate programme. If you want to be sure you had prepared for life after campus, you’ve got to start these right from now! This is actually based on the notion that you’ve already taken a decision on what you want to be in future. As you get ready for that priced time regarded as ‘final year’, here are the top ten things you should consider doing ahead of time .

Participate in Career Advancement Events:  They are many around. From conferences to seminars, workshops to symposia and from competitions to contests, from grants to scholarships, the list is endless. It only takes discerning minds to identify one. In line with your future aspiration most especially, it is important you attend such career advancement events. Use career advancement websites or google, ask a professional in the field to keep a tab on upcoming career advancement events ahead.

Earn the trust of others: Are you the cunning type? Do you possess some character that could portray you as a dishonest person? It’s high time you started getting rid of such characters. People around you are watching you. News of your good character or otherwise would spread to a place you never imagined in the nearest future. You’d better turn a new leaf today before it’s too late!

Volunteer: Volunteering involves you providing services to people based on your skills or expertise at little or no cost at all. The world is in need of helpful people and such people should be sure that their effort is not in vain. It is important to note that volunteering could even increase your chances of getting a job. In an age when work experience is one of the pre-requisite to get a job, your volunteering experience would be helpful. For example, consider using your leadership and organisational skills, editing, writing, publicity, ICT, social media, medical and child caring skills. Give to the society voluntarily and you would succeed!

Mop up your social media: Watch what you post on the social media. Your first job might be lost as a result of one status update in the same way another could get you a job right before you graduate. Remove that gangster picture of yours. Be equally careful of those who tag you in their status updates, especially if such wouldn’t present you in a good light. If it requires you ‘unfriending’ or ‘blocking’ such people, please do! Be as modest as possible in your posts. There is no crime talking about religion, politics, ethnicity, gender or other topics of diverse views. But if you must, you should thread the path with high level of intellectuality based on facts and avoid maligning other people indiscriminately.

Study Smartly: Studentship isn’t all about working hard to get the highest of grades but studying smartly. Smart studying emphasises you understanding the course content beyond examination situations. More often than not, most students read just to pass exams. Yours should be an exception! Irrespective of what the course is, it important you can apply its contents beyond examination situations. You don’t want to open your over five hundred page engineering textbook when asked to determine solution to a mechanical fault!

Learn some skills: A skill-based personality is the ideal professionally-prepared personality. Go beyond the lectures to learn new skills applicable in the industry generally. It is possible that that step could place you above your peers in future. Skills learnt should be however relevant to contemporary times. Your skills are your selling points!

Engage in fruitful journeys: Before you decide on embarking on any sojourn as a student, weigh the benefits. Ask yourself what you stand to lose by not participating as much as you consider what you stand to gain. You don’t want to found in the midst of street urchins nor would you want to be caught in the web of some controversy betraying your sparkling good character.

Get yourself a mentor: Career mapping comes to play here. Your career should be plan-based. You would need a trustworthy professional in the field to be your mentor. He is more likely aware of current trends relating to achieving career success. He can easily help you in material and technical support where necessary. Your mentor should be your adviser in making professionally-inclined decisions. There is no need for an aspiring lawyer having a physician as his mentor. Choose your mentor wisely!

Start practicing before graduating: Do you want to be a teacher? Start acting as one directly or indirectly. Clinch with a professional in your field of choice and request being his assistant/intern Don’t expect to be paid since you are not yet a graduate. They could consider paying you if they have the resources to cater for that. You know what? Practice makes perfect!

Be prayerful: God is the one who makes our plans materialise. Whatever we have in stock can only be successful combining dedication with prayer. There are stories of dedicated people who yet failed. That’s as a result of lack of God’s blessings in their acts. Think God first!

People generally see tertiary institution life as being full of freedom. Yes, it is! Everybody is free to do whatever they wish. Why not do something personally worthy of reverence and reference against the future? Choose to do something beneficial for yourself. Your future starts now!

My Birthday

Today I found a friend

who knew everything I felt.

She knew my every weakness,

And the problem I’ve been dealt.

She understood my wonders,

And listened to my dreams.

She listened to how I felt about life and love,

And knew what it all means

.

Not once did she interrupt me,

Or tell me I was wrong.

She understood what I was going through,

And promised she would stay long

I reached out to this friend

To show her that I care

To pull her close and let her know

How much I need her there

I went to hold her hand

To pull her a bit nearer

And realized that this perfect friend I found

Was  nothing but my mirror                                                                                                                                                         

THE ABOVE POEM AND PICTURE which are the brain child of the celebrant is dedicated to you, i mean you. 
I, Ifeany Ugwuanyi wishes to tender that i cannot by any token thank you enough. In fact i lack words to both qualify and quantify the magnitude of happiness that i habour in my heart today. I have received your countless number of messages, phone calls, e-mail and so on - all which has taught me some lessons.
My humble supplication this day is that the Almighty God will always see you through in all your areas of operation.
Remember; i remain indebted to you all. Happy xmass & new year.

Joy & Ugwuanyi in a happy mood

Ist Hon. Justice Auwal Ibrahim Annual moot court competition - Gani Fawehinmi chambers emerge the overall winner

Barely a couple of weeks ago, the new wigs of the black and white republic (university of Nigeria) were called to the students  bar association. In the thought energizing lecture delivered on that day - 15^th NOV, Barr. C. Ogbuka was reported to have said;

‘’when a vibrant lawyer appears before an erudite judge, even

The waters of the law become troubled’’

wow!

 You needed to have seen this man delivering his lecture. However, in a tete-a- tete with the publicity secretary to the university of Nigeria students bar association president, Ezenwaka McDonald, he admitted that just as Karl Max opined;

‘’a perfect system is an utopic concept’’

He however affirmed that the call to bar ceremony which was graced with the presence of Hon. Justice Onyia of the court of appeal, notable members of the bar/bench, lecturers of the university, members of the press, lions/lionesses … was one the best of its kind at least in recent time.

On the other hand, the chief executive of UNSBA – THE man steering the ship of UNSBA in the person of Omeye Emenike Mark, in the speech he delivered succinctly recaptured;

‘’my dream is to move UNSBA beyond the horizon it is operating

now, in fact UNSBA is going global’’

THE ISSUE PROPER >>>>

The 1^st Hon. Justice Auwal Ibrahim annual moot court competition actually set the ball rolling for the sophomore class of the faculty of war— no,  faculty of law   Lol…

Many of them were spotted in various corners (that mango tree can tell the tales) trying to cram the relevant sections of the 1999 grundnorm (2011 as amended) and other ejulets .  On that hot afternoon of 10^th Dec by  1pm or so, the maiden appearance commenced. It was Gani Fawehinmi chambers (plaintiff), Justice Agbakoba chambers (1^st defendant) and Zenith chambers (2^nd defendant).

Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi receiving the certificate of merit

Shortly after appearances was entered, guess what?      A sonorous voice thundered  Objection my lord!  the lead counsel of Zenith chambers raised the first objection against  Gani fawehinmi chambers – citing relevant and pertinent sections of the statutes alongside case-laws to anchor his position. The judge appropriately sustained the objection. Without a doubt this early morning objection did a considerable damage to the case of Gani.  However, at the end of the day, the eloquence of one Miss. Michelle Eigbobo (lead counsel) saved the day for his chambers ahead of Gani while Zenith chambers lost out entirely.

  For want of space, we may not go into details, nevertheless, the sum and summary of the whole exercise was that out the nine chambers that participated, Justice Oputa chambers, Zenith chambers and Zebra chambers lost out in the first round. This was followed by Lord Denning chambers, Agbakoba and Concord chambers that lost out in the semi-finals. Regardless of this, the eloquence one Enugu-born Miss. Chioma V. Eze of Lord Denning chambers never ceased to amaze the judges. Meeehn! The girl dey shaaaappp.  The final round of the competition which saw Gani fawehinmi chambers emerge victorious ahead of Grett chambers and Magna Associates respectively started at exactly 12pm yesterday 19th Dec. The venue was Coscharis room 4 (beautifully decorated) from the exterior to the interior.

The proceeding which lasted for 5/6 hours saw Gani fawehimi chambers victorious by a majority judgment of 2:1 out the three judges that sat in the case. One thing was spectacular about this proceeding – all the parties were happy at the end. Following the announcement of the judgement, all the fifteen (15) counsel that appeared in the case received a certificate of merit award each, after which the winner were given the trophy and the cash prize.

Amauche Ayogu(in red) & members of Gani

Their Lordships in that case equally declared Daniel Nwakile Esq of Magna Associates and Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi Esq of Gani Fawehinmi chambers best counsel and 2nd best counsel respectively.

 Accept our apologies for not going into details even as we use this medium to congratulate all the chambers that participated in this competition. We equally wish you merry Xmass and prosperous new year.

Magna associates

 Remain a good citizen of the country!  SEE more PICS after the cut>>>

Anglican Church opposes Catholic-Catholic ticket in Enugu guber race

Anglican Church opposes Catholic-Catholic ticket in Enugu guber race

The Anglican Communion Bishops in Enugu state have opposed the Catholic-Catholic Gubernatorial ticket of the PDP in the state for next year's general election.

Speaking to newsmen in Enugu under the aegis of the Enugu Ecclesiastical Province yesterday Dec. 17th, the Anglican Bishops led by Archbishop of the Enugu Ecclesiastical Province, Most Rev Emmanuel Chukwuma demanded that the Enugu chapter of the PDP, zone the governorship running mate slot to one of its members otherwise they stand the chance of loosing the Anglican Church's votes in next year's election.

The Bishops said they welcomed the party's consensus gubernatorial candidate, Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi who is a Catholic but are opposed to the Catholic/Catholic governorship ticket of the party..

“We the Anglican Bishops are crying and appealing that Anglicans in Enugu state will not tolerate marginalisation and should be giving the position of deputy governor of the state.  For the position of governor and deputy governor to be Catholic/Catholic will not be acceptable to us. In the Federal level, people are not happy with Christian/Christian ticket, hence the president has taken a very good stand to return as President and pick a Moslem as his running mate. Why should Enugu State, therefore, nominate a Roman Catholic governorship candidate who we are not against and wanting again to nominate a Roman Catholic as the running mate? We Anglicans say no to this kind of arrangement. We are not in minority in Enugu state and we totally reject that intention and are warning that if they want peace to reign in this state and for them to enjoy our cooperation, it should not be Roman Catholic/ Roman Catholic ticket”the bishops said.

The Bishops went further to say that

Nigerian Medical Association suggests psychiatric tests for all politicians before elections

Nigerian Medical Association suggests psychiatric tests for all politicians before elections

  ISSUE; I doubt if I will agree with this. The Nigerian Medical Association in a communique issued at the end of the National Executive Council meeting in Jos on December 7th, advised that all politicians seeking for public offices in the 2015 general elections should undergo psychiatric test to determine the state of their mental health.

The communique was read by Dr Kayode Obembe, who said it had become necessary for politicians to undergo psychiatric test because of the way some politicians in the nation behave. He also said all psychiatric doctors had been advised to register with the Independent National Electoral Commission that will supervise such tests & all medical doctors to participate in the political process at all levels.


 laf wan kill me die joooooooooorrr

Ayogu Eze wins Enugu PDP Guber primary

Senator Ayogu Eze has clinched the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship ticket in Enugu State.
Ayogu was elected in a peaceful election conducted at the Filbon Hotel, Enugu, though another parallel election was on-going.
A total number of 672 delegates were accredited for the election. Eleven votes were declared invalid.
our correspondent, who was at the venue of the election, reports that Ayogu polled 526 votes, defeating his closest rival, Mr. Chinedu Onu, who got 31 votes.

Evang. Samuel Onyishi came third with 30 votes; Eugene Odo got 25 votes, Onyeke Onyeke, 20 votes, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi got 15 votes while Anayo Onwuegbu polled 10 votes.

In a speech, Senator Eze assured the people of the state that he would bring in rapid transformation.
He said job creation, youth empowerment, security, education, among others, would form priority in his government.
Meanwhile, Senator Eze, Prof Onyeke and Sam Onyishi had during the meeting with the election committee members condemned the list of delegates being used, saying it was not the authentic list that emerged from the Nov 1 ward congresses. The development paved way for the parallel primaries yesterday.
Eze said at the meeting: “It is not possible for me as somebody who know the process of
the law to go and submit myself to illegality. The only option available for me is that I will go to those duly recognized delegates by the courts and the National Working Committee of the party, they are the ones who can actually elect candidates. Any other thing in my own opinion is abuse of the process of the court and our law.
“Therefore, I want to say clearly that I will not be at the stadium where you are going to do your own because I will be committing an illegality, I will be working into a bobby trap knowing that my delegates have been disenfranchised”.
Prof Onyeke described the process as a “nullity”, stressing that it did not conform with law and due process.
He said: “The first one is that the chairman that was addressed as the state chairman is not recognized by the party and court. The man that is recognized as the chairman of the party is Elder David Aja, which means any exercise that is being carried out here without him is illegal, null and void. The observation made by Senator Ayogu is well taken; an election has been held and the people that emerged from the
election are not on the list that came from the National secretariat.
“We have not been addressed on the decision of the court to the effect our chairman has been changed. We have not been told why a delegate will be qualified to elect candidates to our state House of Assembly, qualified to House of Representatives and Senate and is not
qualified to elect candidate for the governorship election.
“That inconsistence from the party is unfair. It is unfair and this is a part people like me has been trying to resuscitate and rehabilitate”.
As at the time of filling this report, the result of the parallel primary being conducted at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium is being awaited.

The fact remains that the result will be greeted with controversies.
   this is serious!.

Ribadu, Agbaje, Nyesom Wike, others win PDP Governorship tickets

Ribadu, Agbaje, Nyesom Wike, others win PDP Governorship tickets

The Governorship primaries of the PDP held yesterday across the nation. Some results are out! Former EFCC Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu clinched the PDP ticket for Adamawa state, while serving senator, Ifeanyi Okowa won the primaries in Delta state. Former Ministers Labaran Maku and Emeka Wogu who both resigned their appointments as Ministers in October lost the tickets in their respective states of Nassarawa and Abia. While Jimi Agbaje won the Lagos state primaries.

Find a list of some of the flag bearers that emerged from the various primaries after the cut........

Enugu 2015: Ugwuanyi close to victory as Ekweremadu finally endorses him …Deputy Senate President emerges unopposed in primaries, dedicates victory to Chime

Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi

The candidature of Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, House Committee Chairman on Maritime and the consensus candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Enugu State chapter recieved a boost yesterday as the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has declared his support for his candidature, describing him as the “future of Enugu”.
Speaking after he was returned unopposed in the Enugu West Senatorial Zone primaries on Sunday, Senator Ekweremadu urged his supporters to vote for Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, who had been earlier endorsed by Governor Sullivan Chime, PDP Enugu State Caucus and other stakeholders as the party’s consensus candidate for theEnugu gubernatorial election in 2015.
“In the spirit of equity, we have all agreed that the governorship should go to Nsukka, so let us support Ugwuanyi”, Ekweremadu affirmed.
“As you can see today, Chief Anayo Onwuegbu has withdrawn from the race; Chinedu Onu has also withdrawn, so I urge all our people to vote for Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi tomorrow (Monday). Peace requires making sacrifices andthat is what they have all done”, the Deputy Senate President added.
On Sunday, Chief Anayo Onwuegbu announced his withdrawal from the gubernatorial primaries in Awgu, venue of the Enugu West senatorial zone, PDP primary elections.
Withdrawing from the race, Onwuegbu said his decision was to stabilize the peace which was gradually returning to the PDP in the State.
It would be recalled that Onwuegbu also contested with Governor Chime for the PDP ticket in the primaries in 2011.
Also on Sunday, in Agwu, Mr. Chinedu Onu announced his decision to withdraw from the guber race.
With this development, Senator Ayogu Eze and Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi are now the two major aspirants for the PDP guber ticket.
But, the Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Hon. Eugene Odo, and a transport mogul, Evang. Samuel Onyishi, are still in the race as at the time of filling this report.
However, a source told our correspondence that pressures are being mounted on Sen. Eze and other aspirants to step down for Ugwuanyi.
According to the source, “the party stakeholders are working hard to ensure that Ugwuanyi goes into the primaries as a consensus candidate..........Contd....

http/www.ifeanyiugwuanyi.blogspot.com

Enugu 2015: Chime reconciles with Ekweremadu, loyalists lick wounds

Chime

The two power blocs in the Enugu State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are in palpable anxiety as the party goes for the National Assembly elections, today, (Saturday) and on Sunday.
The political temperature in the State had changed following the shocking resignation of the chairman of the PDP in the State, Mr. Vita Abba.
The development, which took Governor Sullivan Chime and his loyalists unawares, left the party at the control of Elder David Aja, a close ally of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu.
Consequently, Governor Chime, having totally lost the party’s structure to Ekweremadu during the ward congress, agreed to enter into a peace deal reportedly brokered by President Goodluck Jonathan.
Although Governor Chime is said to have conceded his Senatorial ambition to the deal, his aides feel disappointed and sold out.
Our correspondence gathered that few weeks back, some of his aides, including his former Chief of Staff, Mrs. Ifeoma Nwobodo, had resigned their positions having been assured of different national assembly positions.
For instance, Nwobodo, considered to the most powerful person in Chime’s government, had the Governor’s alleged backing to go for the Enugu East Senatorial position.
The former commissioner for Transport, Chuka Utazi was penciled down for the Enugu North Senatorial slot.
Apart from the two of them, the commissioners for Enugu Capital Territory and that of Lands, Ikechukwu Ugwuegede and Chukwuemeka Ujam, respectively, equally resigned their positions to take shots at the House of Representatives....... contd