App Review: AppBlock

As a student, one of my biggest weaknesses is technology. Scrolling on Reddit is just so easy, and studying can be so hard. When distractions are readily available and tailor-made to suit our interests, they become hard to avoid. Using my phone isn’t always a problem – I’m not against it in general – but there are certain times where I know that using my phone will only hurt what I’m trying to do. Those times are during studying, during a class, and, most of all, right before bed. I was losing… Read More

Just A Story About Picking Careers…

blue background with 3 white question marks

I tried thinking my way into a career path once. Not just tried; my face was scrunched up, it felt like my bedroom was shaking, and I think my hair even went blond for a moment. I was adamant on deciding everything I ever wanted in life right then and there. If I just concentrate hard enough, I thought, then I’ll be able to find whatever answer there is hidden deep inside me. Wouldn’t that have been nice? Not knowing what I wanted to be was a confusing thing, especially for my… Read More

Mission Statements for School

wile e. coyote lighting a fuse and it explodes on him

After reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, I was inspired by the idea of visualization, also called affirmations or mission statements. Hill is so compelling when he discusses how writing down your goal and visualizing it happening every day means you’re almost guaranteed to accomplish it. Eventually I was won over to his side. The influence of Hill’s writing wasn’t immediate to me. It took a long time and a healthy dose of skepticism before I started to take his ideas seriously. I started to take in other sources of… Read More

Making Students Feel Welcome

If you’re already engaged on campus, and either feel comfortable where you are or haven’t left the program yet, you’re experiencing firsthand the joys of doing more in school than just showing up to class, groaning mid-lecture, and then leaving. How did you join whatever it is you’re now doing? Maybe you love volunteering – or Salsa dancing with the gang – so much that you just walked up to a meeting and uttered those magic words, “can I join?” Not everyone feels comfortable enough to do that though. For many newer… Read More

Jamal

team members hands together

Hey, I’m Jamal, and I’m a second year student at Douglas, taking a specialized degree in “whatever, whenever.” When I first came to Douglas,. I thought maybe I could be a psychologist, because of the two books and 280 TED talks I’d seen on the topic. Now, I’m working towards a journalism career by working at The Other Press, taking a variety of useful courses, and trying to pick up some tools of the trade. I’m much more satisfied with that. When I’m not writing, I’m either reading a book or being… Read More