With a new school year comes new feelings of uncertainty, stress and oftentimes anxiety. Whether it’s a first time in college or just your first time with that professor, any first is never easy. Luckily, there are plenty of upperclassmen and faculty members who have been through this enough to dish out some helpful tips.

One person who has years of experience and advice is Vice President of Student Life Eric Grospitch. The main part of his job is making sure that students have a good experience while at Washburn, and that encompasses everything from advice for the classroom to general life advice. Most of his advice to students comes in the form of doing whatever you need to do to be successful.

“There’s a couple of things that we try to tell the students every year. One is to talk to your faculty…we’ve found that if students can get engaged and talk with their faculty early in, it really helps them long term,” said Grospitch.         

Grospitch also advises students to use the new software system, BodsConnect, and the app to go along with it, corq, to get more plugged in on campus.

“It kind of gets over the ‘I don’t know what’s happening on campus’ thing. There’s so many events and so many activities that you can find,” said Grospitch.

Grospitch also advises students to find an activity outside of their comfort zone.

“Finding that one thing in addition to your classwork, work or whatever else it may be to make those [connections on campus] happen,” said Grospitch. “It helps you get connected and the better connected you are to campus, the more likely you are to be successful.”

Sophomore business major, Abigail McCrory, agrees that connections on campus make college life easier.

“Get out there and meet people. You never know who could be in your class and help you out with a hard assignment,” said McCrory.

McCrory continued with other ways to improve success.

“I would recommend other students to get a job. I’ve found that it helps with my time management and motivation,” said McCrory. “And get a planner. You’re going to need it.”

The main trend with advice for knocking out first-day jitters is to be prepared and try force yourself out of your comfort zone. Try something new, or at the very least try to find something on campus that you love.

At the end of the day, everyone copes with anxiety and nerves differently. Just focus on doing what makes you the most comfortable, but don’t be afraid to do something you’ve never done before. Remember to prepare for what can be prepared for, and try not to stress over what cannot be controlled.

Edited by Adam White, Joelle Conway