Dear first-year Ducks, I would like to congratulate everyone on achieving this great milestone in your life. As a fresh new Duck, I can testify how much emotion this experience has and will bring me for the next four plus years. We have been through many rough times and benevolent journeys, but we were able to make it. It takes a great amount of grit and determination from each new student to be able to define their next four years with Stevens and the small city of Hoboken.
As we all are getting settled, I know the many questions that students may have which is How can I make college go smoothly for me?
One thing to keep in mind is our habits and how we can start off on the right foot of this four-year marathon. One recurring theme that can be heard from many of our upperclassmen is the value of budgeting your time. We may have taken it granted in our high school as we could easily ask for extensions on assignments as our teachers would constantly remind us to complete our overdue projects, but college may not be the same. If I may be honest, I can certainly use some more work on my time management because it is not something that anyone can master overnight. We are going to have to introduce or adjust new time management habits as we pursue our college career as it will only benefit us.
A famous saying that many of you may have heard goes as follows: “Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today” (Abraham Lincoln). Let’s be honest, we have not been living by this saying exactly — and why should we? We always have tomorrow especially if today so happens to be a Friday, the sun is shining, or the ice cream trucks just happens to be rounding the corner. The fact is that for every responsibility, project, or assignment we put on hold, they will only pile up until it becomes too difficult to bear. Trust me, I have fallen into the troubles of procrastination and screwed myself over on a year long project that I had to crunch in under two days (I am sure you are questioning my time management skills for sure). That said, I do not want this to be a new worry for all of us new Ducks as we transition into Stevens, but it is a habit that we should be aware for the next four years at college. The best part is that we can start off slow and start forging our habits now!
What I recommend is for all of us to start off by planning out days and times that we can tackle our two week-long projects. Think of this as taking small steps up a staircase rather than fully running up which if you do, you may trip and severely hurt yourself. The point I am trying to get across is that rather than have our assignments on hold until the very last minute, we should start planning an attack on our work. By adapting better time management skills into our habits, we will be doing our future selves a grand favor and making Attila very proud to call us baby ducks.
