Students blog

People start writing stories in kindergarten and don’t stop until they finish school, but that doesn’t make most people any less fearful of it. I think that comes from having to write paper after paper in high school and college and being thoroughly critiqued on them. However, just because you got a bad grade on paper doesn’t mean you can’t write for fun. Anyone can write blogs and keeping these three simple tips in mind will help you get started.

Write What You Know

Writing blogs can be fun, especially if you are writing about things you know about. I still struggle with coming up with a topic, but my advice is pick a passion of yours and run with it. It can be anything from working out to knitting to traveling to anything in between. Whatever it may be, you have something that you know a lot about. If anything, you get to share a love of yours to the world and cultivate that love you have even more.

Find Your Voice

Writing blogs isn’t super technical and doesn’t have to be serious in any way. Coming from a background of writing school papers, I struggled with the informality of blog writing. However, I learned you want your blogs to have your voice in them. Whether that be through jokes or the kinds of pictures you add, do something that gives the reader a sense of who you are. There is no right or wrong way, there is only your way. You want people to be able to get an essence of you and feel like you are right next to them telling a story.

Avoid Perfection

A lot of people think they should only write blogs about their successes, but this is an opportunity to write about anything going on in your life. While you may have failed at something, you also learned something through it as well. People don’t want to hear how perfect you are, they want to relate to you. You can give advice and tips on things, but share your real experiences in your blogs as well. No one is perfect and people know that; don’t worry about sounding perfect when you write blogs.

Like all things, writing blogs takes practice. You may not be the best at it right off the bat and that’s OK, but that doesn’t mean you stop trying. The more you do it, the more you learn. I hope these tips help and that you get writing right away because anyone can write blogs.

Anger, confusion, and sadness. These are just three of the many emotions students are feeling across the country, particularly seniors. I had so many plans to accomplish for my last two months of college, but right now it doesn’t even look like I will get to have a graduation ceremony. Through all this, it is hard not to look at all the things I won’t get to do, but instead I am choosing to look at the things I am thankful for.

Tests, quizzes, and finals are all something college students dread taking. At the beginning of our college careers, many of us don’t know how to study in this new academic setting. To combat that, Pearson conducted months of research to identify the most effective study methods for students. From their findings, three of the best study tips were identified and a flyer (3 of the Best Study Tips) was produced to get the word out to college campuses across the country. I have the wonderful experience of working with Pearson as a Campus Ambassador. After seeing this flyer I had the opportunity to sit down with researcher Dan Belenky, Director of Learning Science Research at Pearson, to learn more about the process behind his team’s research as well as some other helpful study tips he had to offer.

Now that your article has been published on our Pearson Students blog, we encourage you to share it across all of your social media channels! Check out how via this short video:

As a college student there can be days that are difficult with the feeling like you’re all alone. We have all felt it and, especially on large campuses, it can be hard sometimes going throughout your day and maybe not talking to a single person. For that very reason, Auburn University has created a day to promote a friendly atmosphere to all students throughout campus called “Hey Day”! It is a day for celebration for all students, faculty, and alumni to unify what we call the Auburn Family. I am excited to be able to share the history and tradition behind one of the best days at one of the best universities in the country!

The History

Hey Day has been happening since the end of World War II. It started when soldiers were coming home from war and Auburn students wanted to come up with a way to properly greet them, thus creating Hey Day. It grew into an annual tradition throughout the 1950s and 1960s, but ended in the 1970s. Hey Day was reinstated in January of 1985 and has been a long-standing tradition for 69 years now.

The Tradition

Hey Day has evolved over the years from students simply wearing name tags and greeting each other with “hey” to a full day of festivities. It’s usually scheduled mid-semester during the first week of October. Early in the morning, volunteers set up stations throughout campus to hand out name tags and doughnuts for breakfast. Hey Day t-shirts are also sold. As the day continues, so does the fun with a big party on the greenspace in the middle of campus. Many attractions are featured, including camels, puppies, photo booths and more. Plus, there are tons of food options available – hot dogs, pizza, cookies, and drinks – to continue the community aspect with eating together. Everyone enjoys watching student dance groups such as the cheerleaders, Auburn hip hop dance team, AU Rhythm, and the Tiger Paws perform throughout the afternoon. It’s just one big party for the whole campus!

During Hey Day, the Auburn family is promoted and encouraged to join together no matter where you’re from or who you are! We may have one special day a year set aside for this very reason, but I know many students, faculty, and alumni strive to keep the atmosphere alive throughout the entire year.  It’s part of our creed to “believe in Auburn and love it.”

When I was younger, I rarely left my home in Alabama except for the occasional short trip to surrounding states. The only big trip I remember taking was driving north all the way up to Massachusetts to visit some friends. Since then, I have been fascinated with going to new places and have had the opportunity to travel to places like Nicaragua, Africa, Canada, and many of the western states in the USA! Through the time in those places and even back home I have found that learning about new cultures can be as simple as talking to your neighbor or as adventurous as moving to another country! Learning about another’s culture not only helps you examine what makes them who they are, but what makes you who you are as well. Whether you want to explore the world or stay right in your neighborhood, here are two main ways you can learn about other cultures. 

Get Out Into the World