By Jenna Moede

I remember the overwhelming excitement of reaching my last final exam or handing in that final research paper. A feeling of relief always washed over me because I had completed, successfully, another semester.

Then I would take a look around my home and force myself to figure out what to do with all the papers, notes, books and information I’d accumulated throughout the semester.

After several semesters, I learned what I needed to keep, what to throw out and, fingers crossed, what to sell.

I plan to use the same strategy when my classes start back up over the summer.

First, I tackled what to keep. My hyper organization kicked into play a lot on this one. I don’t like to keep anything that won’t benefit me in the future or that I just won’t use.

I have more trouble keeping school material than I do with giving it away.

That said, make sure you keep anything specifically geared toward your major and minor. This includes notes, research projects and papers, including electronic copies.

You never know when you may want to reference them or when you might need to revisit a topic you thought you wouldn’t need again.

Also, keep any books that relate directly to your major or minor. I can’t tell you how many times I went back to refresh my mind on theories, formulas and concepts that I supposedly had already mastered.

Remember that every class for your major or minor builds off previous classes so professors won’t spend time re-teaching what was already covered. They expect that you know and remember it.

Having those books easily accessible will really help you handle processing and computations you’ve already studied.

I also always kept an ear out during each class because professors often note what material students should keep. If you happen to catch that type of information, make sure you keep that specific paper, reading or presentation outline. Who knows when it will come in clutch.

Finally, keep any citation manuals you have to buy. Typically, your major will use one citation type. For example, my business major used exclusively AP. I dread citations, and I will do almost anything to avoid them, but having the manual saved me quite often.

Now, my favorite topic, what to toss. Let me say it again, I love saying “see you” to clutter I won’t use again.

Make sure, however, that before you throw anything away or delete any files that your professors have posted final grades. You may need to send another copy of a paper or project, and you want to make sure you still have that available if necessary.

After final grades post, feel free to throw out anything you know for certain you won’t use again. Usually this includes papers, tests and notes you used for general education classes, including electronic files.

I did this for all my general classes such as film, environmental science and music appreciation. I knew that I had completely finished those classes, and I didn’t plan on taking similar classes. For generals like math and English where I needed to take several courses to fulfill the general requirements, I waited until I finished the last one before I threw anything away.

I took a lot of pleasure in creatively getting rid of a couple of book reviews on books I hadn’t exactly enjoyed too much. Let’s just say that my apartment had confetti sprinkled around it!  

I also toss all of the scratch paper I used over the semester. Even when the scratch paper related directly to my major, the chances that I would revisit calculations that I never even turned in seemed slim at best so I never kept them.

Okay on to the best part! What to sell. Everyone likes making a little cash, so sell the textbooks you used after each semester right away. Don’t wait and let them build up because professors often switch books which means they might not hold their value.

You can sell these in various places so I recommend shopping around to find who will give you the best price. While on campus, I found that selling them to underclassman worked out better than selling them to the bookstore. They liked getting a deal cheaper than the bookstore, and I liked receiving an offer better than the bookstore. We both won.

Another trick I found was to trade books with classmates. Once you know what books you’ll need, you might have enough luck to know someone who needs the books you have and has the books you need.

This happened a lot with my friends while I took my general classes. It saved us both a little money.

Finally, sell what you’ve learned! People will pay for knowledgeable and relatable tutors. Take your knowledge and share it with other people while making enough to put a little extra money aside (or towards rent!)

In general, make sure you organize your copious materials after classes end so that you can make the most of what you’ve learned and start with a clean slate the next semester.

By Jenna Moede

For everyone that has opted to take a break this summer, relax and take it easy on this summer vacation but also engage your brain in fun ways.

I’ve heard it said that we have to work the brain like any other muscle in order to keep it strong, but that feels so impossible when I’d rather enjoy the sunshine or some thoughtless entertainment over the summer.

I never took advantage of breaks during my undergrad years, but I remember how they felt while in high school, and I struggled with motivation.

I’ve had a break now between my undergraduate degree and my graduate degree. I will pick back up with school in the fall of this year, and I’ll work on a certificate this summer. Yikes!

I’ve wracked my brain trying to figure out how to set my mind in the direction of focused learning, and since these strategies have helped me even when I didn’t want to do anything but not think, I plan to whip them back out!  

First I plan to read at least a little bit every day. It seems like a million genres exist so I will pick different types of material like novels, nonfiction, personal development, magazines and the news so that I never feel bored with the topics.

Luckily, I have always loved books so I don’t have to retrain myself to do this one, but I hope that making a habit of reading more regularly will help me find time to read long sections of textbooks when classes start.

With any luck, I might even enjoy the textbook reading when school starts in the fall!

Next, learning new activities or developing old ones helped me overcome losing too many facts over summer vacations in high school so I hope it will work again!  

I like to practice old skills, like playing piano, and work on new ones that have interested me in the past.

This year, I made the most awesome discovery that our local library has not only a free online library, but also free language software for pretty much any language I could ever want to learn. I had to try it out so I have started learning a foreign language.

I practice daily on the new language, and I also use it to brush up on the Spanish that I learned throughout high school and college. I love learning a skill that could come in handy someday and having fun at the same time.

I have such a good time practicing that it doesn’t even bother me when my husband pops his head in the door of my office looking concerned because of my awkward sound repetition.

Moving on, who doesn’t love a good board game or card game? I enjoy gathering my friends or family and hosting game nights. Not only have I met new people this way, but I use different parts of my brain without even noticing.

We play games that range from Jenga to Pinochle. If we feel particularly daring we’ll try to play an entire game of Monopoly without anyone flicking a hotel or two off the board during a heated discussion about the rent on Boardwalk.

I also play two player games with my husband like Mancala. Every once in a while I turn to jigsaw puzzles or word and number puzzles that I can do on my own.

I try to find whatever interests me in the moment and go for it.

Lastly, sometimes I feel super motivated over small breaks, and in those cases, I revisit notes from previous semesters.

I plan to do this moving forward even more than I have in the past because I know I need a steady foundation to build on in grad school, and I don’t want to risk chipping at that foundation by forgetting important facts.

I don’t think I’ve ever really spent enough time reviewing in the past, and I swear if I ever remember science information I’ll have to mark it on the calendar and request a cake. I have figured out that the topics that interest me the least, like science, fall out of my brain space the fastest.

Since not every topic in my undergrad studies thrilled me, and I can expect that to happen again with my graduate degree, I know I’ll really have to focus on the classes that bore me when I re-read notes.

I hope to apply myself more than I ever have before and come out having more applicable knowledge than I have before.

I will desperately try not to fall into a mindless summer. I worry that if I let myself stop thinking, it will take too much time to whip my brain back into shape.

These activities will give plenty of brain activity and entertainment so that I can not only enjoy the summer, but also retain old facts and learn new information.

By Amy Nielsen

I have been waiting for my dream job to post so I can apply for it. I heard about the position from someone who works in the same office a few weeks ago. Over the last weeks, the funding has been frozen as the fiscal year changed over.

I have been checking the postings every few days. Today the new openings went up finally. When I saw it, I nearly hyperventilated.

I have been working hard to put myself in the right places to find out what kinds of opportunities are going to be coming available over the next few months. I spent the late winter months learning everything I could about the agencies and organizations in our community who do similar work to what I want to do. I have been going to all sundry events that have anything to do with health and wellness. I have been trying to meet as many of the movers and shakers as I could.

 I am not in a rush to find a job. I have a lot of slices on my plate with family, teaching, and volunteer commitments. Rather, I am really interested in finding the right job. The research time I put in over the winter is beginning to pay off as I meet more people and am able to put faces to names.

I started this journey with the intention of opening my own business. I have determined over the last year that I am just too fundamentally lazy for that to work. Working by myself is like playing ping pong alone.  Coworkers fire me up and keep me motivated. I like to work as part of a team with independence to do my piece.

I have the luxury right now to not have to be employed immediately upon graduating from school. Being an adult student with a family, I have other sources of support. I’m not trying to pay the rent with this new career. I can take the time to work my way carefully into the community.

Finding the right fit will take time. I live in a rural area with limited opportunities. Those that do come up are fiercely fought for and hard earned when awarded. Ours is a small community in the corner of the state.  The big universities are far enough away that those students are not interested in applying for positions here unless they come from here to begin with.

Agencies and organizations don’t have a lot of turnover at the levels I am applying for. Those employees that do move on usually do so to other positions within the local area. It’s a small circle of passionate people who have been paying a lot of dues for a lot of years here. A hard circle to break into and hold one’s own. Some days it feels a bit like feeding my toes to the piranha.

So I applied. I sent in my resume and cover letter. Just to be sure I sent it correctly, as I am not the most savvy at filling in these online forms, I sent a note to the two women I have been most in contact with about this specific organization. Both are employees who have been encouraging me to keep my eyes open for just this opportunity. I know that as employees they cannot specifically direct my application, but I am hoping they can at least watch out for it.

The job posting reads like it was written for me. My credentials line up perfectly with the requested certifications. I am already very familiar with the materials I would be presenting on a daily basis. I enjoy teaching the kinds of students the program attracts. Even my extracurricular talents work in favor to make my presentations that much more valuable for the organization.

My biggest fear in this whole process is whether I filled out the online application correctly so the autobot that reads the algorithm doesn’t kick my resume out for being incorrectly categorized. I am sure that I have missed job opportunities because I haven’t filled out the online application correctly. There is often times no way to know if what I clicked is clear because the applicable answer to the question isn’t there.

For example, I hold a bachelors degree technical theater. When the form asks for higher education level, I click bachelors of arts. When it asks for the subject of my degree, there is no option for theater. I have to click arts/undefined. But this is not the same thing at all and doesn’t convey the same kind of training I have had. Rarely can I list my post graduate certificates in culinary arts, holistic nutrition, and herbalism as there are never spaces for them. Yet they are very relevant training to what I will be teaching in the jobs I am applying for.

Unless I can get myself in front of a human being and have a conversation about my wild and crazy ride, the autobot is not going put my resume in the hire pile. I just don’t fit in little boxes like that. That is part of the reason these kinds of organizations want to hire someone like me. If they can find us. If we can get in the door in the first place.

Now I wait and hope that the boxes were clicked properly and that I am in fact in the right place at the right time. I have seized my day. I have grabbed the tiger by the tail. I have applied for my dream job. I even wished on the candles on my birthday cake for this job. So now it has to happen. Right?

By Jenna Moede

Okay, let’s talk summer. If your social media looks anything like mine, you have seen college graduation photo after college graduation photo the past few weeks. This can only mean one thing, spring semester has finally ended.

Great! Except for everyone that hasn’t graduated yet. I remember this time of year always causing me a little confusion during my undergraduate studies.

I wanted to finish my degree quickly, but I also really, really, really needed a break.

I never took mine, and instead, I finished my degree on the fast track. It took me just a little over three years to finish my bachelors and my minor, and I didn’t take any breaks. Not one.

I worked every single summer, I took over full class loads every semester, and I kept pushing myself.

So of course I finished my degree pretty fast, but I also came dangerously close to burning myself out several times.

My point - you may need a break sometime during your college career, and I want to mention a few major pros and cons to taking one.

First, you may already be thinking about how much taking a summer vacation will slow down your ideal college timeline, and it might. Time really kept pushing me during my undergraduate studies.

You could also worry that taking a break will slow down the good momentum you have built up during the last semester. If it feels like the wrong time to take a break, you probably should keep moving on until you feel like you need one.

Just because you might work through this summer doesn’t mean that you can’t take the next summer off or take an extra week off somewhere else in your studies, but if you feel like stopping will cause your good roll to end, then you should work through this one, this time.

Lastly, I worried a lot that if I took the summer off, I would lose everything I learned in the previous semester. Repetition helps me remember information, and by always taking classes, I usually didn’t have time to forget the facts, theories and ideas that I had studied.  

During high school summer vacation, I swear science just fell out of my head, and I desperately didn’t want to repeat that happening during college.

If all of these drawbacks worry you, then you might need to press through the summer, but if only one concerns you, you might find that the benefits outweigh the cons.

So let’s examine those benefits.

First, a break will help you relax and rejuvenate. Classes demand a lot of our time, energy and positivity and it always seems so easy to put pressure on ourselves. Because of that, taking time off can help us let go of what has already happened in our educational career and move on with a brighter outlook.

It can also help jumpstart motivation. I think I’ve had senioritis at the end of every college semester, and a small break in the summer could have cured it. Going into a semester without motivation and excitement does not benefit any student.

Lastly, taking a small break gives you time to adjust your goals, reorganize your schedule and reprioritize your life. It can help shed light on some issues you’ve had with college in the past and can help you make positive changes that will affect you in the future.

If you can’t tell, I’m in favor of taking breaks over the summer, and I wish that I had during my studies.

Also remember that colleges typically schedule summer vacation into their school schedule.

Traditional 4-year campuses design their programs to take 4 years to complete with 2 semesters taken each year. Many students do take advantage of summer vacation and don’t view it as taking time off.

If you want to take a break over the summer, consider it a scheduled break and hit the ground running in the fall. 

If you feel that you have a good rhythm and don’t need a vacation, then keep chugging along and consider it next year, but if you fear you’re headed toward burning out, it can help you remember why you started and motivate you to keep pushing through each and every class.

By Amy Nielsen

I did it! I graduated! I am now a certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach!

It was a bit surreal watching my graduation ceremony online on my laptop in my pj’s on the couch with the nightly news in the background and my kids shrieking in the tub. I suppose I could have made more of an occasion of it. Had a glass of wine, perhaps. But it was broadcast late after a long day. In fact, I almost missed it. I did get a selfie with my name on the screen though.

So, now what?

Last time I did this I had a gig lined up through my department chair. It was part of the perk of working with a faculty active in the business we were studying. They helped us network into our first post-graduation positions. Mine was a little summer stock theater in a tourist laden, seaside town in Massachusetts. I had the summer to figure out where I needed to be and what the next step to get there was.

Online school is very different. We have been practicing our mad skills for the last year on each other and honestly anyone who would sit still long enough. We have all of the tools to run out of the box programs; flyers, notes, handouts and all. I even have a fee schedule mapped out. I know how to present myself as a coach.

What I don’t have this time around is the personal introductions that carry the weight of another person’s sense of you. I have to figure out how to present myself, introduce myself. Cold call to a certain extent.

So, again, now what?

My dilemma is that I really don’t want to do one-on-one coaching. It’s the one thing I really learned about myself while I was working my way through this program. I like to teach. The curriculum didn’t really get into so much about how to present oneself as an educator.

I had fallen into the trap of believing that all teachers need to hold advanced degrees in order to be taken seriously. That if I were to be working with the public, I needed a Master’s degree of some sort. I have since come to the conclusion that my fear of success is speaking. That if I just get another degree, then I’ll be ready and credentialed enough to teach.

I am not going to get another degree. I don’t need one. What I need is a way to present my current certifications and credentials clearly and concisely in a way that makes sense. My degrees and certifications are in such wide ranging fields, I need a way to tie them all together.

So,now what?

I began reading every flyer posted in our library, community center, super market and fitness center to see who is offering what kinds of classes. What are they charging? Where are they hosting their classes? What kinds of classes are being held at what locations?

I spoke to the desk staff at the businesses, often times with flyer in had saying, “I’d like to offer my class in your location using this same kind of structure of days, times and fees. How do I go about setting that up with your organization?” The range of answers has been eye opening.

I asked what kinds of teachers and educators use the spaces that are available in our community. I was sure to ask what kinds of classes people have been asking for that are not currently being offered.

In my travels both around town and around the internet, I have been collecting flyers and trifolds that I like or not, so I have some examples to work with as I design my own informational materials. Some of the most interesting pieces of text on them are the short biographies the educators write.

You know, the blurb about the presenter, or blogger, or lecturer, at the bottom back cover of the trifold flyer. That little paragraph in the about me tab.  The best ones are part curriculum vitae, part life story, and part personal philosophy. I really feel like a good one gives me a sense of not only the person’s identity as they see themselves, but also of their voice. I have come to believe that a well written introductory biography is essential.

So, now what?

Since writing a short introductory biography is part of the assignments for the meditation certification I am almost finished with anyway, this seemed like a good place to start my search to condense and solidify what I do and who I am.

As I work my way through the few classes and workshops I have on the calendar already, I will also be honing this little, about me paragraph. I have so much that I like to teach, it is hard not to become overwhelming to a reader.

So, now, this is what.

Now, I take every opportunity to teach something to someone that falls in line with what I love. I will have flop days, I will have days where no one shows up. Every teaching opportunity will bring another chance to work out the right words to describe how I can touch your life and gift you with a new view of yourself.  I am not the sum of my certificates plus my degrees. I am an educator with lots of interesting ideas to bat around together.

By Jenna Moede

Have you ever felt like a lost wanderer? Trust me, I’m waving my arms wildly over here. I totally felt that way not during the admission process but during the first overwhelming classes of my online college career. 

Finding a good groove in my online classes took a while for me, but through some trial and error, I figured out how to calm my jitters as each new semester started and feel prepared to take on my classes.

First, check your email. After you enroll in your classes check weekly, if not more often, to make sure you don’t miss any important deadlines, course material changes or tips and tricks from professors. 

I’ve had emails about each of those show up in my inbox, and after my trouble with financial check in, I learned my lesson about the importance of school email.

Once I even had a professor who sent us a list of helpful hints from prior students for mastering the class content, but a group member of mine had no idea until the end of the class because he never checked his email.

Learn from his mistake (and mine) and check for those types of little gems, and other important class information, regularly in your inbox. 

You should now have access to your class syllabus and course breakdown too. These could come via email or you may have to locate them on your class platform, but read them both.  

I barely glanced at a syllabus when I studied on campus but with classes online, the syllabus is non-optional.

You will discover so much valuable information including the expected class conduct, participation and policies like late submissions and missed deadlines.

The syllabus will likely contain the grading scale too. Your professors may use similar or university mandated scales, but starting the semester knowing the scale will help you set your goals.   

You should also locate your professor’s office hours. Knowing when he or she has time available comes in handy when you end up in a bind. It seems to happen to everyone at some point.

Next, you should take an in depth look at the course breakdown. My professors included major assignments and deadlines at the beginning of each semester along with the types of assignments to expect.

I always keep a personal planner so I copied the deadlines into my planner and wrote reminders a week early for each assignment. If I had more than one class, I typically color-coded in my planner so I could easily identify which class the assignment belonged to.

I had professors who added smaller assignments along the way but my coded planner made it a lot easier for me to recognize due dates quickly. I also could plan early for weeks that had important overlapping deadlines between classes.

After all of that, I usually put the course breakdown on the bulletin board near my desk so I could see assignments coming up at a glance.

You might think you’re set now, but don’t forget to check your equipment and materials before you barrel in. Make sure you have a strong internet connection, all the office supplies you will need, a notebook, and your required class materials.

Online classes depend completely on reliable equipment. 

I found out the first week of one semester that I had a keyboard that wouldn’t type the letter “A”, and it did not make me a happy student. I swear the keyboard had no problems the week before but I didn’t make sure. Hopefully save yourself the annoyance by checking.

As far as materials, double check on the syllabus that you have everything required, and remember the professor may add a new book or website login at the last second.

Okay now start your first week!

Complete any first week work like introduction posts and acknowledgements of the course conduct.

Check due dates carefully! The deadlines the can differ from standard weeks during the first and last weeks of a class!

If you fail to do one of the required items the first week, depending on school policy, the professor could drop you from the class. On the other hand, you could end up with a miserable grade at the end of the class too if you fail to submit a final project or exam.

I didn’t figure out the deadline issue until my second semester. At the end of my first online class, I surprisingly discovered that the last week of classes had an early deadline. I had a mess to clean up for one of my final projects.

To avoid any pitfalls or mistakes like that your first week, keep these steps in mind and start paving your way through the semester. Good luck!  

By Jenna Moede

Can you believe this!? We have finally covered everything from applying to college to starting you first classes, but we have just a few more topics to chat about.

Prepare these final steps so you can press on into your real and exciting college career.

First, make sure you take the time to submit your transcripts. Likely, your university will not allow you to start classes without doing this.

Sometimes you will have to pay a small fee for transcripts, but you can have them sent to several schools, and they usually arrive at those schools quickly.

Remember that some colleges will want high school and college transcripts if you have some postsecondary education.

High school made it easy to send my transcripts because they sent out a letter with the steps and the website, but after high school you might have to track these items down.

If you know your transcripts exist out there somewhere, but could never begin to find them, try a few phone class or emails. I recently needed a copy of my husband’s high school transcripts. I called his high school and they happily told me the website and all the information I needed. Easy and quick!

When I transferred schools, I needed to send my college transcripts to my new university. If you find yourself in the same boat look on your current university’s website and it should have a place for you to request transcripts.

If you can’t find anything online, call the registrar’s office. They will walk you through the steps.

To avoid potential problems, request your transcripts as soon as possible. Ideally, right after you’ve committed to a school.

Next topic, books. Every university handles books in a unique way but don’t wait on this either. Books may take a while to ship to you, and you will fight an uphill battle if you start classes without them.

I had a class start with the book on backorder, and the first test required me to share a friend’s book. She, luckily, had bought the book off an upperclassman. Needless to say, I’ve experienced more ideal situations.

While studying on campus, I bought all my books at the bookstore. My online university shipped my books with a prepaid return label or offered an e-book.

You can sell your books back after each semester, but don’t expect a huge return. One semester I truly made more money returning cans at the local grocery store. I couldn’t believe it!

Even though some of my books cost a lot and I didn’t sell them back for the same amount I paid, I really couldn’t have made it through college without them. I even kept a couple!

Don’t let the prices intimidate you into thinking you can skate by without them.

Lastly, to all of my Advanced Placement (AP) class takers out there and everyone else who has earned college credits through testing, I didn’t forgot about you!

I had AP credits that I needed to apply to my education too, and I bebopped around online until I figured out what to do. Let me help save you the hassle and time of searching.

First, find out if your university accepts AP credits or whatever type of credits you may have. A quick website search should turn up that information for you.

From there try to locate a place online to submit the scores for review. If you can’t find a spot, contact the admission office. They will supply the necessary information or direct you to a better suited office to help you receive the credits you have earned on those tough high school classes.

So now, congratulations! You have finally finished, but make a big bold note that your university may have additional requirements so still check your email regularly!

Now, after all your hard work applying and registering, you can finally begin. Remember to start off right so you can ace your first semester.

By Amy Nielsen

I am very proud of myself. I didn’t chicken out. I ran my first informational booth at our season opener, community vendor fair.

The monthly event allows anyone who pays $25 to host a booth. The spread included Mary Kay sales, the local insurance agent, wildlife rehabilitators and every Pinterest DIYer imaginable.

I had to work on a shoestring budget. To put it bluntly, I had literally no money to spend on this adventure. I scraped together enough to buy the second least expensive knock-off shade tent andbusiness cards that better reflect my current iteration. Everything else was what I already owned, or could find for free.

Luckily my husband works for an employer who doesn’t tally every single copy and we were able to print and copy my flyers and brochures for free. I knew I didn’t need tons of them so I bought a ream of paper and sent him to work to make copies.

I needed some sort of sign. Hey, I can do that. I’ve made how many homecoming signs in my life? I rifled through the kids’ sheets, found a suitably unstained, more or less white one. If you have kids of a certain age, you have a box of those little two ounce acrylic craft paints hanging around like I do, so those came out too. I went to town making a sign that matched my business cards as close as I could manage with my rudimentary skills. It turned out pretty well because I chose a very simple design for my cards.

Since it was Easter weekend, the event organizers asked the vendors to participate in the egg hunt. I agreed to fill one hundred eggs with – something. I found the fruit leathers we had just purchased for summer treats, added slips of paper with happy sayings on them and set the kids to stuffing. I decided to add a basket of eggs with sayings and chocolate kisses to my table to entice people to come talk to me.

The morning of the event came and insanity struck our house. The dog had gotten into the basket of eggs and eaten as many of the chocolates as he could. I still had to pack the car and get to the event site.

My husband came to the rescue. So much for his nice quiet morning. We swapped car seats, loaded my stuff up in my car, loaded the kids and puking dog in his car and headed off to opposite ends of the county.

I arrived at the event site, wrestled the shade tent into submission, set up my tables and was ready to greet the public well in advance of the opening time. Then, I remembered that my breakfast and lunch were sitting on the kitchen table, along with my water for the day.

My car was tucked way back in the outer reaches of vendor parking, and there is nothing within walking distance. This is a vendor fair, not a food fair, so there are no treats to go buy either. Whoops.

I am a new vendor so I didn’t get the front side of the row on the main strip. I am on the back side in the middle. My booth site is set between a fun pair of gals selling handmade beaded spiders and dream catchers, and a husband and wife team who seem to have gotten a great deal on a coupon match-up for shampoo and conditioner at the supermarket and is now reselling them at a profit.

Luckily, my back door neighbor never arrived, so we ended up with a little path between us, which brought me a little extra traffic.

Being the first event of the season and before most of the summer crowd arrived, the traffic was steady, but not heavy. Since I didn’t have anything to sell, my booth was more often passed by.

My little affirmation eggs were not quite interesting enough.

I have ideas to remedy my traffic flow for next month. The eggs I had on the table (the ones I was able to save from the dog) went over well once people realized they were free, so I am going to continue to have them with different things stuffed inside each month.

Cute as they are though, they are not enough.

For this kind of vendor fair, I feel like I need to have a theme. To that end I am planning to follow what I will be teaching in my monthly sessions. This month I taught about the space of being and of starting and beginnings. Next month is focused on doing and movement. I am researching hula hoops, jump ropes and ribbon wands to sell in order to foster movement.

I am also going to change what I have on my tables. Rather than the flyers for my classes, I am going to have take-aways with movement oriented activities on them, instructions for hop scotch, directions  to local short hikes and maps of local playgrounds and such.

I did have a chance to work out my language with people as they walked past. What words did I use when calling out to them that made them look twice? When someone did stop to talk to me how did I introduce myself? I tried all sorts of different ideas and those that rang true I will use again.

At the end of the day, after depositing the kids with me, the dog to home (not much worse for the chocolate), and before heading off to work, my husband’s observation was that I was the happiest he had seen me in ages. My biggest take away from this event was that it is the right place for me to start.

I have a few changes to make to get the kind of traffic I want into the booth. I need to make my space an active space not a passive space. Once I connect with a few more people on a more active level, then I think this will take off and bring in the class bookings I am looking for.

And when you are starting a business, this is what it is all about.

By Amy Nielsen

This week my class focused on teaching students to learn who they are - how to find your personality type and own it.

For example, if you are type A, go for it and know that you might run over a few people, so learn the art of apology. If you are a wallflower, learn the art of letter writing and blogging to make your strong, well thought out opinions heard.

We learned that you will always be at cross purposes with yourself unless you understand what kind of person you are, what makes you tick, and how to use that to your best advantage.

In addition, we learned about being your authentic self. How to know what fuels your drive and what your drive is. What is our passion?

And, are you working within that passion? If not, why not? Do you need to realign? Rediscover your purpose?

I am still working through the last few weeks of school and honing my niche. Some days it feels like I am working above myself by attending community events as an independent practitioner. But, until I learn the, who, where, and how of my community, I won’t know exactly where to fit myself in to reach the most people with my new business.

Some parts of my the next step of my career path are clear, others are still pretty foggy. Taking this time to focus on myself, while I still have the luxury to do so, is important.

As I develop a solid foundation of ideas and convictions, based in facts, I will be better able to tailor my skills to different clients. I have attended numerous community meetings and listened to the needs and wants of many local organizations. I know I can serve many of them in my new business venture.

For example, the schools here have beautiful gardens but no chefs to teach the kids tasty ways to eat those beautiful veggies. Not only am I a chef, and I like to work with kids, but I also know a bunch of chefs who would love to volunteer a day each season to come in and teach. Now I need to figure out how to match the need with the solution.

In other meetings I have repeatedly heard the need than to reverse a current downward trend and stay competitive within our region for diminishing tourist dollars. I have also heard the business community call for more small scale workplace initiatives.

I have developed a business model that can offer those smaller classes and workshops. I can become part of the solution. I have a passion to follow and a concrete base of people I want to work with. I have found my authentic self.

Becoming your authentic self and living your purpose is hard. It takes a lot of thought and work. It means examining every core belief to make sure it resonates within you. It means working on those pieces of baggage we all carry to unpack them and understand what it means to you.

Notice I didn’t say you had to get rid of them, but you do have to acknowledge that you are carrying them and know what’s in them. Because knowing is half the battle and the battle is only with yourself.

What I have also come to understand is that it is ok to have that chapter of your life that you really don’t want to read aloud. That chapter, the one that is perhaps embarrassing, or painful, or uncomfortable is where you can find your greatest strength. Perhaps it was the ability to come back and try again another day. Maybe it was the grace to own and atone for rage. And just maybe it was the courage to hold your head up and say the shortest sentence in the universe, “No.”

For me that means understanding that my experiences in and of the world are overwhelming for a lot of people. I have been to and through a lot of different things. I have been very far up and very far down. I have a vast story.

What I have learned from understanding my story is that everyone else has just as vast a story and that I am genuinely interested in their story. I just have to make them genuinely interested in their story too. Interested enough to hear it again themselves and to be proud of or, at least accepting.

Building your internal strengths and understanding where you stand within yourself gives you the personal space to receive grace and gratitude. It gives you the ability to be truly thankful for your own contributions to the universe. Without knowing that you are really and truly good, and that you really and truly love yourself, you cannot receive the love of another. That’s a big statement.

Whatever it takes to understand your own personal, authentic self is where you need to spend your energy. When you focus on yourself you stoke your own fire until it burns bright enough that it cannot be contained. That is where you find your passion.

By Jenna Moede

You applied. You spoke with your academic adviser. You received your degree plan. Now what!?

Now, I hope you feel fired up and ready to take your next steps as a college student.

As I’ve mentioned before, you need to make friends with your degree plan, and I mean best friends. It will guide you through every course, every semester and every year. I think that by the time I graduated, I could have recited mine from memory.

Your degree plan will lay out the whole college shebang for you. Even if you opt to start as undeclared, I still recommend you look at the different degree plans for each major you are considering.

First, you should see the number of credits needed to graduate. Most bachelor’s degrees will require at least 120 credit hours, but that can change depending on your major and school.

I had friend who studied graphic design and needed around 180 credits, but, because of that, the university didn’t permit her or other graphic design students to pursue a minor.

Watch out for this kind of university regulation, as it may change your plans. Hopefully, however, you’ve already ironed any issues out with your adviser.

Your plan should further break down credits into general and core classes.

You should see your generals broken down by subject like humanities, English and more. Those categories are then broken down by class.

Pay close attention to each sub category because it will explain how many credits you need for each general field. From there you can decide what classes interest you and how many you need to complete to fulfill the requirements.

I recommend starting with generals and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone with them. You can’t avoid generals so think of finishing them first as a win-win; you can put them behind you, and you can change your major if you decide to.

I wish I could go back to my first days of college and do it that way. So really think about your path.

You will see your core classes structured the same way as your generals so you can plan ahead. It should also list pre-requisites; however, you’ll find it worth your time to double check the listed prior requirements for each course.

At this point, form a plan. I highlighted the classes I wanted, and I planned a few back up courses as well, just in case my first choices had already filled up.

Now comes the exciting part of registering for your classes. The first time I registered on my own, I felt confident I would make a huge mess of it, but it turns out that beginners really can handle it without too much stress. That worked in my favor for sure!

You’ll want to locate the place in your online platform where it says register for courses. You will pick the semester, and from there you should dive right in.

You will see several ways to search for courses. You will probably see filters for field of study, level, starting date and course number. I always used the last option. It directed me right where I needed to go, and I liked the simplicity.

Now just select your courses and choose a starting date. Once you select your course, hit register, and you will see a list of all the classes you have registered for.

You usually will need to register one class at a time. If for any reason you don’t fit the required eligibility, the platform shouldn’t let you register.

That said, I once signed up for an upper level class on accident, and the system didn’t stop me. Luckily, I realized I hadn’t enrolled in the course I needed, and because I checked my own work, I avoided a huge headache right before classes started.

You shouldn’t find it too hard, but before you go overly register happy and put yourself in too many courses, consider what you want your course load to look like. Most times, six credits a semester means part-time and 12 or more equals full-time.

You need to discover the perfect balance for you between boring and overwhelming. A conservative course load always seems better for the first run out of the gate.

If you feel great after your first semester, you can always add classes next time around.

My first semester of college I completed 18 credits, but I found that I liked the classes and ended up taking 22 my next semester. You will learn what feels right; just give it a little time.

Once you finish registration, double check the dates of the classes and check your emails consistently until the classes start. Your university and professors will utilize email to communicate important class and registration information.

Take it all step by step and make a plan. Attacking college with a plan will help guide you through all the challenges ahead. If you make a mistake, don’t worry. My college road has seen a lot of bumps, but rather than call them mistakes, I prefer to refer to them as experience.