By Silvia Popoca, Fellow Class of 2017
George Washinton University
College, while extremely rewarding, has certainly not been easy. Each year, I’ve gotten more involved in school academically and socially, and while I’ve loved nearly all of my experiences during my time in college, I find myself getting more exhausted each year. This past year, on top of taking a full load of classes for my philosophy major and French minor, I took a leadership role in my job with Jumpstart, a program that helps prepare underrepresented preschoolers for kindergarten. I love my job, but it requires much more work than I initially expected. Soon, I found myself spread thin, working minimum 20 hours a week on top of a full load of classes and participating in clubs.
While my family is always supportive of me, they cannot grasp what I am going through. I am the first in my family to ever go to college, and often, they don’t understand how I could be stressed doing something they consider so simple. Because of this, at times, I don’t feel comfortable sharing my stress with them. This is why I am so grateful to have my mentors. Every time I speak to them, they make sure to not invalidate my feelings when I vent about my struggles. They are always supportive and helpful listeners. If I tell them I am stressed or struggling in school, they remind me that I am not alone and try to help me create a plan to navigate the situation. Furthermore, I truly appreciate how concerned they are with my well-being. They are of course invested in my academic success, but they’ve helped me ensure that school does not interfere with my health. Last semester, they gave me some advice that has helped me survive the academic year, especially since classes became online. They told me to remind myself each week of things I’m proud I’ve done. I am constantly hard on myself, so this was a daunting task. Since classes moved online, it became increasingly harder to motivate myself to do academic work. On top of this, since I am now home, I try to help around the house as much as I can. As I found myself becoming more stressed and less motivated, I remembered my mentors’ advice. At the end of each week, I wrote two things I was proud I did that week and two things I wanted to improve. I cannot say that my struggles completely went away, but my mentors’ advice helped me pull myself together and finish the semester.
As said previously, I am extremely appreciative of my mentors. They are accommodating with me, understanding of my struggles, and supportive of my goals. I could not have made it this far in my college career without them, and I always look forward to next meetings.
