Author: miacnbix

  • How to Get Involved with Your Community!💟😸

    Whether you need volunteer hours for school, want to expand your college applications, or just use your time to help others for personal reasons, helping out your community is a great way to get started! Personally, I started volunteering my freshman year of high school when getting 10 hours a month was required. It was a bit of a challenge as I live in a smaller and rural area, but I soon realized that if I look in the right places, there’s people everywhere that need help! 

    🪻How to find a place to volunteer

    I believe that volunteering is more fulfilling and enjoyable when you choose something that pertains to your interests. For example, if you’re interested in history, it would be a good idea to volunteer at a historical museum. Now, I’m no expert so I may be incorrect, but I also believe that when applying for colleges it helps if your extracurriculars relate to your major. I recommend brainstorming and researching for opportunities related to your interests. There are apps such as POINT, VolunteerMatch, Just Serve and GivePulse. After you have your ideas, it is important to thoroughly research your options. Knowing their preferred hours, workload, etc. is important in narrowing down which one is the best fit for you AND your schedule. After deciding and reaching out to your desired location, you’re set! (if they respond back😭😭)

    🪻Other ways to help

    I understand that not everyone who wants to help out has access to transportation, doesn’t live in a walkable area, and other factors that contribute to not being able to go out to volunteer. If this is your case, don’t fret! There’s plenty of ways to volunteer from home and it requires the same process to find an organization to volunteer with as people who are looking to volunteer in person. You brainstorm, research, narrow down your choices, reach out(if needed) and wait for a response (if needed)!

    🪻Still having trouble?

    Trust me, I’ve had plenty of experience with having difficulties finding a place to volunteer. In the past, I’ve volunteered in person at a railroad museum and elementary school. The railroad museum related to my interests in history, but it was sooooo boring. They didn’t have much for me to do, so I was in a room taking pictures of old books page by page for a website for a few hours every other week. Essentially, all I was doing was turning a page and clicking a button. I didn’t feel like I was really helping out my community and it wasn’t very fulfilling work. When I volunteered with the elementary school, it was a bit boring because they never had much for me to do. At times, all they had me do was sit at the teacher’s desk doing nothing. My advice to avoid this is to communicate and ask questions with the people in charge about the workload, time, etc. BEFORE starting. This way, you’ll be able to make sure that it is right for you!

    🪻Volunteer Ideas

    • Making cards for hospitalized kids, elders, veterans, etc. (my personal favorite!)
    • Helping out at medical facilities, schools, art centers 
    • Cleaning up trash from public spaces
    • Animal/homeless shelters
    • Religious organizations
    • Libraries

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  • Study Tips <3 🍓🩷

    I understand the feeling of being unmotivated, the guilt in procrastination, and the overall annoyance of studying. I remember my first year of high school and how difficult it was for me to sit down and do my work because frankly, I didn’t understand it or how to study so I did understand it. Over time, I learned tips and tricks that I incorporated that contributed to me becoming a current A student. I think it’s important to note that there are different study methods that work for different people. What works for me may not work for you and because of this, I will link some resources that have a different approach to studying and even some quizzes so determine your study style if you’re completely lost 😀 Now, here are my study tips!

    Romanticize It

    I don’t know about you, but I would much rather study in a nicely lit room, with colorful supplies, a refreshing drink, and a nice set of clothes on, than with plain supplies wearing clothes in a place that doesn’t make me feel my best. Romanticizing studying works because it makes the process enjoyable. I learned that studying in the right environment really helps me to get my work done.

    Here are the ways I romanticize studying

    • Colorful erasable (because I do NOT trust myself to not make mistakes) pens
    • My Miffy pencil my cousin got for me at Miniso
    • Getting my binder in my favorite color: pink
    • Putting cute Sanrio stickers on my binder
    • Color coordinating my supplies
    • Having any sort of drink with me (usually water in a water bottle I really like: my Owala)
    • Studying in the library at school
    • At home, organizing my desk space and turning on my lamp instead of the big and bright overhead light
    • Wearing clothes that make me feel comfortable 
    • Listen to study playlists. I recommend jelly 🪼⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ on YouTube. They’re also on Spotify and Apple Music, which are linked in their YouTube description.

    If you’re not sure on how to decorate to your liking, I always recommend Pinterest. It has helped me so so so much! If you want cute school supplies, I recommend Five Below, Miniso, and Hot Topic. 

    Maximizing Productivity

    Getting my work done in a timely manner used to be a STRUGGLE for me. I was constantly procrastinating, doing my work right before class or on the bus, and sometimes I never even ended up completing it. However, I eventually, by watching several study tip videos on TikTok and YouTube, learned how to be productive as well as adding my own twist to them.

    Here are tips that I use!

    • Have a set time everyday that is set aside for solely schoolwork. This can be study halls or time at home.
    • Do my work at a desk and remove ALL distractions. If you were like me and your work in your bed with your phone right by your side, well I’m sure you can figure out why nothing used to get done.
    • Do physical exercise beforehand to get out all extra energy and make it easier to focus
    • Lock in during class to get as much work done then, so you don’t have to do it later
    • Work on homework more than one day before it’s due. Sometimes I work on it a little bit each day or just complete it all a few days before its due. 
    • Study at least three days before a test

    Study Tools

    Okay, now I’m at the part where I talk about how I actually retain information. This is the part where I believe it caters most to a person’s learning style, so if these tips don’t work for you, you can always check out the links at the end of this post that can help you figure out what works best for you!

    Here’s the tips that help me retain information!

    • Flashcards. Active recall is so helpful for me because it makes me actually feel confident that I know and understand the concept.
    • Study games. The games on Quizlet, Kahoot, etc. are so helpful to me because they’re fun and I actually learn while playing.
    • Pay attention in class. Whenever my teacher is going over presentations, I always pay attention because they will stress the most important parts and elaborate which helps me understand the material better.
    • Practice! Practice! Practice! Especially for subjects such as math where you need to solve problems, practicing over and over again helps me get down the equations in my mind.

    Links!!