Lessons Learned From 2021: Student Edition

Emily Deneen

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Jan 29, 2022

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Connection

• Know when to ask for help! As a Penn State Lehigh Valley dual enrollment student, I took full advantage of the Learning Resources Center and signed up for a free calculus tutor. We meet for an hour each week. Being successful in math involves practice, practice, and more practice!
• Family Mealtime = Connection: The meals themselves don’t have to be complicated, but having one intentional family meal together each day can make a big difference towards strengthening family bonds. Thanks to this cookbook, I’ve learned a few simple recipes I can make for my family at home. If dinners don’t work for your schedule, try getting together for breakfast or a snack instead!
• My parents recently celebrated 20 years of marriage! In that time I’ve learned that a healthy relationship values and prioritizes acts of kindness for each other, solid communication, trust, and being open to helpful feedback. This applies to more than just romantic relationships — it’s good advice for life in general!
• Ask for Advice: This month I asked a group of college juniors/seniors and recent grads if they had any advice to share for me as an incoming college freshman. I’m so glad I asked this question and will share the list of insights in an upcoming article.
• Look for reasons to lift others up, and share opportunities. By the way, if you’re celebrating a special occasion and you’re in the Lehigh Valley area, please order some cupcakes from my friend Sarah Sherman at Sarah Jane Cupcakes! They look amazing, and are SUPER tasty!
• Take the time to meet everyone — with people coming back into offices after the pandemic, you can’t assume you’ve met everyone the first week! Keep meeting with as many people as possible.
• Making friends — When meeting someone new, make the effort to be the first person to speak. Many times, people are thankful or relieved! Even a simple compliment and asking the person’s name can go a long way.
• Reaching out to international students — This month I invited one of my international classmates over for Thanksgiving — this was her first one! It was so great to great to know her better and to learn more about her life growing up in Taiwan. It’s well worth the effort to reach out to others :)

Environmental Impact

• Business Card Alternative — Recently I got a really cool label maker, which I’ve been using to create a QR code for a sort of virtual business card! If you want to see where the QR code goes, you can visit emilyinfo.carrd.com
• Remember, trash is not “throwing something away”. There is no such place as “away”. Instead, consider recycling, fixing, donating, or even selling items so they can have a longer life. In particular, baby toys are meant to last, and will most likely have a lot more life to them. Plus, you could make some extra money! :D
• Invest in a French press — It’s much better than the instant coffee pods found in most offices. The pods taste like sadness and broken dreams. French press coffee tastes far superior, plus it’s better for the environment. Win-win!

Growth Mindset / Curiosity

• Be open to feedback! Seek it even if you don’t get a response. The point isn’t the response, it’s that you’re going out of your way to learn how you can improve.
• A little research can go a long way. Last week, our family watched the documentary Into the Jungle on Curiosity Stream. Newlyweds Jim and Jean Thomas travel to Papua New Guinea with the goal of conserving an endangered species of tree kangaroo. They end up making a tremendous impact on the daily lives of several local villages by developing education curriculums, farming programs, research centers, and even grants for water towers. However, I couldn’t help but note that many of their early missteps could have been avoided with just a bit more research and planning beforehand. Learning the language or physically training ahead of time could have sped up their efforts. By the way, this week Curiosity Stream is running a promotion for 40% off. Get one year for just $12!
• Know your resources — It was surprising how many college students don’t know or take advantage of resources available to them. For example, the career development center frequently offers workshops or even 1 on 1 coaching for resumes or interviews.
• Know the end goal — It’s important to have clarity for any project. Instead of blindly directions step-by-step, having a compass toward the end goal can be a better guide, especially if there are unexpected roadblocks.
• Mindset matters! Instead of saying “I don’t know”, try “I’m eager to learn”!
• Use nights and weekends to learn new skills, and apply the skills you already know! :D
• Diversify your skills — Join clubs or find on-campus jobs unrelated to your major. This expands your skill set, making you not only more valuable to employers, but also a cool person with hidden talents! :P
• SolidWorks CAD Software — Partnered with a few other Penn State students from my engineering class to design a 3-D printed robotic hand!
• Learn by teaching — I’ve found that teaching my younger sister some of my class material helps me understand it better myself. Plus, we also get to spend more time together! Re-explaining concepts to friends in my class is also helpful not just for me but also for them. :)
• Don’t write off small tasks — When first starting a new job, pay attention to what others are doing, and what you would then be able to copy. Even if the tasks you’re doing are smaller, remember that they all build up and take off of someone else’s plate! You’ll be able to complete bigger tasks once you’re more experienced!
• Spend your commute time wisely — I suggest listening to podcasts/audiobooks. Besides “How I Fixed It”, Reply All is one of my favorites.

Neat resources / other

• Wombo Dream — a fun app that makes AI generated art based off of user inputed sentences
• Coffee and Ice Cream — Quite honestly one of the best things I’ve tasted for a while; It’s creamy and sweet, but not sickeningly so
• Credit Unions — If you’re eligible for a credit union, consider signing up! To college students: Many colleges have partnerships with credit unions, so it’s worth looking into to take advantage of better rates for CDs, car loans, and other perks.
• Pay yourself first — Consider putting as much as you can from your paycheck automatically into your retirement account. It might not be much but you’ve got the power of compound interest and time on your side.
• Scholarships — There are so many great resources available to find scholarship opportunities! One of my favorites is FastWeb. Sign up for an account. They match your profile with any fitting opportunities and will email alerts for approaching due dates. Very cool!
• Don’t reinvent the wheel — Specific to programming, research existing programs that are open-sourced and/or have a creative commons license. GitHub is a great source for this and can save lots of time. Time is money!