Mason Families
| December 4 | Family Webinar: Career Planning Tips for Freshmen - noon EST (https://masonfamily.gmu.edu/webinars/) |
| December 6 | Last Day of Classes |
| December 10 | Final Exam Period |
| December 18 | Winter Convocation |
| December 24 - January 2 | Administrative Offices Closed |
It may be hard to believe that the end of the fall semester is just around the corner. With only a few grading opportunities left in the term, it is more important than ever for students to maintain the progress that they have made in their classes. Your student will have term papers, final exams, presentations, and portfolios due in the span of just a few weeks. As family members you can help your student stay relaxed and productive during this potentially stressful time. Read below for five tips to help your students stay balanced, study effectively, and cultivate positive habits through the rest of the semester and beyond.
1. Stay Organized
Has your student peered inside that planner or updated his/her digital calendar lately? Deadlines and due dates sometimes change over the course of the semester: students should update time management systems to ensure that they know when final papers and projects are due. Visually realizing that a project is due in just a few weeks can engage facilitating anxiety (the good kind!) and motivate students to plan steps to avoid procrastination. Structuring study time and identifying the right locations in which to study can help students avoid time-wasting traps and foster accountability.
2. Identify a Support System and Utilize Campus Resources
The end of the semester is a good time to organize structured study groups with friends and classmates. Assigning group members different roles for the study sessions (one person makes a practice essay question for the group, another creates multiple choice problems, etc.) can help keep students on task. This is also a good time to ask your student how he/she is doing both academically and emotionally. If your student needs additional support through the end of the semester, Mason has a wealth of student support offices on campus – encourage your student to explore options through the Mason website: http://www.gmu.edu/resources/students/.
3. Plan Study Time to Integrate Stress Management
Encourage your student to study multiple subjects during any given day and schedule frequent, short breaks to bolster cognitive endurance and sustain motivation. One commonly employed strategy is using a timer: study for 20-30 minutes then program a 5-10 minute break followed by another 20-30 minute session. If your student is feeling particularly worried about completing a certain assignment, encourage him/her to keep a distraction log outlining any worries or intrusive thoughts while studying – it can help your student identify thought patterns or issues that can then be discussed and addressed.
4. Practice Mindfulness
At its core, mindfulness means paying attention to the present moment: mindfulness practice promotes well-being by helping your student regulate thoughts and focus on what he/she can control – the present. The present can be full of positive study plans, time for healthy release, adequate preparation for the assignments ahead, or simply the quiet and stillness that can be accessed by focusing on each passing breath. Counseling and Psychological Services offers a weekly mindfulness practice that can introduce students to this practice and it can be a nice complement to other academic skills workshops: http://caps.gmu.edu/students/academic-skills-workshops/.
5. Students Need to Communicate with Faculty if Problems Arise
Many times students will miss classes or need to request extensions on assignments for important and valid reasons – professors need to know what is going on in order to be in a position to both understand the student’s situation and reply with an alternative option if appropriate. It is helpful for students to see professors as educational allies: students are enrolled in the class to learn and demonstrate knowledge; professors are there to impart or facilitate that knowledge and guide students in the learning process.
We hope that these tips will make the final stretch of the semester more balanced and less stressful for you and your students. We wish your students success on their final exams!
Learning Services provides a full range of free workshops to help students navigate the demands of the semester: from time management, managing performance anxiety, mindfulness, and college reading strategies to sessions devoted entirely to preparing for final exams. If your student is interested in these sessions, encourage them to register online at: http://caps.gmu.edu/learning-services/.
Laura McCloskey
Assistant Director and Outreach Coordinator
Counseling and Psychological Services
The 2014 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report is now available on the George Mason Police Department’s website. This report is intended to provide students and their families, as higher education consumers, with accurate, complete and timely information about safety on campus so they can make informed decisions. All college campuses participating in federal financial aid programs are required by law to disclose this information to all prospective students, current students, families, and university employees.
In the report you will find crime and fire statistics for all GMU campuses for the previous three years, school policies addressing sexual harassment and misconduct, potential sanctions for violating school policies, sexual harassment reporting options, and an up-to-date list of services and various training opportunities available to all students.
The total number of crime and fire statistics was gathered from official police reports, third party reports from other campus security authorities, and official reports from other police departments patrolling Mason properties throughout Virginia.
For more information, contact the Clery Act Compliance Coordinator, Eric Fowler, at (703)-993-5497.
Eric Fowler
Clery Act Compliance Coordinator
George Mason University
Each summer as a new group of students and family members prepare to join the Mason community, a group of students known as the Patriot Leaders work hard in preparation to welcome everyone to the Mason Family. The Patriot Leader team is established to make new students and their families feel at home here at Mason while sharing a glimpse of the Mason spirit.
A new group of students is chosen to become Patriot Leaders each year. These students demonstrate leadership qualities both inside and outside the classroom and are passionate about helping students and families get acquainted to the college environment. Patriot Leaders spend a lot of time assisting others in their transition to Mason, and should also have a desire to further their own personal leadership potential and individual growth.
At Mason, Orientation is not just the product of one office’s work, but is a university-wide event that brings a variety of offices and academic stakeholders together. In this way, being a Patriot Leader is an amazing opportunity for students to network with individuals from across campus while developing key professional competencies like teamwork, collaboration, and communication.
Orientation and Family Programs and Services is looking for students who fit this description and are ready to grow professionally while assisting students and families with this important transition to Mason. The application to be a Patriot Leader, and more information about students roles and expectations can be found at http://orientation.gmu.edu/student-leaders/. The deadline to apply is November 28, 2014. If you think your student would be a good fit for this role, encourage them to apply!
Rob Miller
Coordinator
Orientation and Student Leadership Team