Byline: Jamie Reid
Jan. 28--With the first semester of college behind them, Lamar University freshmen are changing their schedules with the hope that adjusting a few hours here and there will make for a successful spring term. Four freshmen, who agreed to be followed by The Enterprise during their first year of college, said they have learned to work less, study more and take classes later in the day.
'I will never have another 8 a.m. class again,' 19-year-old kinesiology major Ebony Williams said. 'I just realized I'm not a morning person.' Continuing series The periodic series of articles explores the first year of college life for a quartet of students with different backgrounds: art major Cierra Doucette; Mirabeau scholar Garrett McLeod; kinesiology major Ebony Williams; and Colombian national Ritchie Acosta. Today's feature examines adjustments in time-management for the spring semester. See previous stories at www.BeaumontEnterprise.com This semester, her earliest class begins at 9:55 a.m. She's also planning on working fewer hours, as is 19-year-old art major Cierra Doucette.
Last semester, Doucette, who lives at home in China with her paternal grandmother, worked about 40 hours a week split between two jobs. That was on top of 14 hours of college courses.
This semester, she will only work in childcare at Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital's W.P. Hebert Health and Fitness Center. 'My main goal this semester is to actually enjoy school, my friends, my job and my family,' Doucette wrote in an e-mail. 'Last semester was miserable all the time, so I just want to enjoy this one.' To help ease the stress, Doucette has loaded up her Tuesdays and Thursdays with class and work. It makes for long days, but she's free Mondays and Wednesdays.
'This arrangement is going to save me gas money since I live so far away from Lamar,' she wrote. 'It also gives me more time to do homework.' Last semester Doucette passed all her classes, mostly with Bs, but aims to do better in the spring.
While Doucette has loaded her Tuesdays and Thursdays with classes, Williams has done the opposite by spreading classes over more days. 'I was so tired by the end of the last class,' Williams said. Both Ritchie Acosta and Garrett McLeod, 18-year-olds who live in the Cardinal Village dormitory, want to spend more time on extracurricular activities.
Acosta, an engineering major, is active in the Sigma Phi Delta fraternity, community service club Rotaract, the mechanical engineering professional society and the Honors Student Association.
'That's pretty much it for now, but I'll try to make it a longer list by the end of the semester.'
McLeod, who is studying communications, would like to get more involved with AdFed, an organization for advertising majors. While the students are adjusting their schedules, they have quickly learned they don't always get what they want. This semester, McLeod is taking U.S. history II, honors British literature, business analysis, introduction to mass communications and interviewing. Instead of interviewing, he wanted to take media writing, but learned the professor wasn't offering the class this semester. 'C'est la vie, I guess,' McLeod said. 'What's college without scheduling problems?'
To see more of The Beaumont Enterprise, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.southeasttexaslive.com.
Copyright (c) 2007, The Beaumont Enterprise, Texas
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business
News.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
