Spring, a season of rising temperatures, increasing daylight, sunnier skies, and more social activities means a change in pace for the Benedictine College student body.
Students find themselves going back to outdoor activities such as Spikeball, volleyball and outdoor studying, to name a few. Students find themselves attending more social events as well.
Alongside the increasing energy and improved attitude, students also experience a sense of urgency as the end of the school year approaches. This makes it hard for students to find balance between their academics and social life, especially for seniors.
As Discovery Day, senior comps and post-graduation plans begin to loom, people turn to the career services center to help plan and find balance through the weight of juggling the last several weeks of the spring semester.
Jennifer Dittemore is the director of career services here at Benedictine College. She notices that students initially have a different, more positive attitude coming out of winter, which can change as the semester nears the end.
The Career Services Center also begins to see traffic pick up within the office as other students seek help finding internships and job opportunities for the upcoming summer, assistance with advising and planning classes for next semester and support with discovering and declaring majors.
As May approaches, two things happen. The first is that students begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel; the second is that they also experience burnout.
Holly Black is the director of the Benedictine College Counseling Center. She noticed the effects of spring on students’ motivation.
“Students are reporting feeling overwhelmed. Students are still saying ‘I’ve got a lot on my plate,’ but because they feel motivated, they start seeing these things as things they are able to tackle better,” Black said.
Black works with students in the counseling center who struggle with motivation by helping them find ways to keep their motivation, build coping skills, and seek resources to help them make it to the end.
“I don’t think this time of year means you’re more overwhelmed, I think this time of year means you’re more motivated to deal with some of those things you find overwhelming,” she said.
