Make this year your best one yet

Originally published on September 1, 2024

The journey to self-betterment and growth is endless. We mark our New Year’s with a list of resolutions, hoping that as the clock strikes 12, we become different people entirely. As the months pass by, the hope begins to dwindle, and you realize you never had a direction for your resolutions. 

New school years are often the same. We enter (or re-enter) the halls with a hope for new beginnings and a better outcome. This year, though, we’re making sure it happens with advice from some former Griffins.

Seize the day

Take your professors’ advice

“I know it sounds cliche and very ‘teacher’s pet’ of me but my career after university wouldn’t be where it is today without building rapport with some of my profs and taking their advice.” — Aajah Sauter, Bachelor of Communications

Take lead 

“Jump into something that pushes you into a leadership role. You’d be surprised with how much your confidence will grow by the end of the semester. You can volunteer with SAMU, or take the lead in a group project. I did this by tutoring at the writing center while working as an editor with The Griff. “ — Aajah Sauter

Every day is a new day

“You can choose to start over whenever you want. That’s the beauty of life. You don’t get just one chance to start fresh at the beginning of the school year. You can wake up one school day and decide to be really dedicated to achieving better grades or make more of an effort to talk to your classmates after class.” — Aajah Sauter

Say yes to opportunities 

“It’s a little daunting to start to come upon graduation and be like, ‘Oh, I haven’t really got much experience under my belt aside from my degree.’ Something like projects or jobs or even freelance opportunities helps you familiarize yourself and gives you a better understanding of what your career might look like once you’re actually out.” — Joelle Fagan, Bachelor of Communications

Take advantage of resources 

“MacEwan has a lot of resources for students to figure out this trying time in their lives. A lot of kids are going to be confused. A lot of kids don’t know what they want to do, or maybe they do want to know what they want to do, but they’re not sure how to get there. Be prepared for that.

So, use the MacEwan resources. They have that there for you. Meet with academic advisors. Get their advice. Let them figure out stuff for you. It’s really comforting and it’s a nice little support system to have by your side when you’re trying to figure this whole thing out.

Even if you have nothing to discuss with them, just meet with them. Ask them questions.” — Mohamed Elkadri, Bachelor of Science 

Be organized

“I will say something that really helps me is being overly organized. I can just collect all of my thoughts and collect everything, and see it and visualize it in front of me. I would make sure that every assessment, every essay, every exam, and every type of possible thing that could be thrown my way was in my calendar so I could see it in front of me weeks ahead.” — Mohamed Elkadri

It takes a village

Free yourself from perceptions 

“Don’t be so worried about how people perceive you. We try so hard to control how others view us, be it through the clothes we wear or how we present on social media. But realizing we are temporary on this earth is so freeing, and it gives you permission to be a bit more bold in approaching strangers who turn into close friends or approaching opportunities that turn into jobs.” — Aajah Sauter

Find your people

“One of the great things about university is all the like-minded people you’ll meet. Use that to your advantage! Make lots of friends — find lots of connections. It’s important for not only getting through a stressful semester as a team but also for finding a  community for after your degree is done!” — Alex Sagert, Bachelor of Music

It’s not me, it’s we

“People are understanding, and people want to help you. Your coworkers want to see you succeed. It’s not a constant competition where you’re constantly pitted against other people. 

Make friends with other people in your program. Don’t view them as a future competitor that you’re going to have to fight with for a job.  That’s not exactly the case. 

Find opportunities to support people in your program. “ — Joelle Fagan

Clubs are where it’s at 

“MacEwan has so many clubs, and they’re so diverse in what they have to offer. 

There’s literally a club for every single type of cohort…go find these clubs. Find those friends that you can have along by your side.  You don’t want to just make the next four years or the next three years or whatever it may be just about your schooling. You want to have a little group of people to get through it with.” — Mohamed Elkadri

Work to live, don’t live to work

Be present

“Right now is your opportunity to make mistakes, experiment, un-learn, and re-define. Do it all before that frontal lobe fully cooks, making it more difficult to change your mindset and habits.” — Aajah Sauter  

What fulfills you?

“On weekends, I would fill my time with doing things that fulfill me, like going to live music shows and cultural events in the city. If you can, use one hour of your evening to practice something that is just for you. Like a hobby that you don’t need to be good at or monetize… it’s just something that relaxes you.” — Aajah Sauter 

What you do isn’t who you are

“I am Aajah, who happens to be a journalist. But it is not my sole identity. So being a student isn’t all you are either. Although student grind culture may push the contrary narrative, your worth doesn’t come from the work you produce. You have indisputable worth simply because you exist in this time and space here and now! Nourishing the other beautiful parts that make up  who you are will make you so much more well-rounded when it’s time to explore a world outside of academics.” — Aajah Sauter  

The world won’t end

“It’s important to realize that if you miss a deadline, the world’s not going to end unless you’re developing a life-saving cure that has to be rolled out the next day.” — Joelle Fagan

Give yourself grace

“It’s okay to give yourself grace if you don’t do as well. If you’re doing an assignment or you’re writing an essay and you’re already swamped and you’re stressed…you don’t have to apply 100 percent all of the time. You’re a human, you’re not a robot.” — Joelle Fagan

So, you got to read through some hard-won advice, but now the rest is up to you. This year is yours for the taking, and I can’t wait to see what you do with it. 

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Photo of Courage Omale, Bachelor of Science in Psychology. Photo taken by Amanda Erickson; Graphic by Forrester Toews