May 2013

tote Ali Pannoni Her Campus Towson founder and aspiring online media mogul

issue #1 May 2013

EDITOR’S NOTE

hello there, Welcome to Tote magazine! I have always dreamed of creating a magazine like Tote. There has never really been a college magazine for women. We either dropped to the teen magazines or looked up to magazines for young professionals. So why settle?

I would have loved to have a magazine for college women when I attended college. I learned a lot but it would have been nice to have a support system, something that validated what I was going through and helped me out along the way. And that’s exactly what Tote magazine is here for – a guide for you sophisticated ladies twisting and turning as you figure out your path in life.

Whether you’re dealing with way too much stress, have internship questions, or need a cute outfit fast, Tote has you covered. So read on, enjoy, and most importantly let me know what you liked and what we didn’t include that you may have wanted to see in the issue!

After all, the magazine is for you so why shouldn’t you have a say in what you see here?

Shelby Newsome Founder

CONTENTS

3 SPRING ESSENTIALS your guide to this season’s products

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conserve your space with an easy to make scarf hanger

9 THE INTERN DIARIES discover how Jessica Schimm landed her dream internship

11 S T R E S S

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find out the effects of stress and how to avoid it

15 HER CAMPUS ROYALTY meet the cover girl, Ali Pannoni

19 SPRING AWAKENING a fanciful look at spring apparel

25 E N T E R T A I N M E N T check out upcoming artist Ryan Schmidt

27 S T U D Y

G U I D E

the finals lifestyle you should adapt

29 R E C E N T G R A D this girl has got game

SPRING ESSENTIALS

beauty buys

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1. Shell Phone Makeup Bag, Benefit, $26 2. Ombre Hair Chalk in Blue, Free People, $14 3. Mineral Wear Talc-Free Mineral Airbrushing Bronzer SPF 30, Physicians Formula, $14 4. Brush On Radiance Illuminator, The Body Shop, $17 5. Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel, Clinique, $25 6. Sex Bomb Bath Ball, Lush, $7 7. Rock Soap - Rainforest Mist, Nasty Gal, $15 8. Studio Pigment Eyeshadow in Tropical Teal, e.l.f., $3 9.

Botanical Flower Collection Nail Polish in Coral Peony by Jin Soon, Sephora, $18 10.

Smooth Sphere Lip Balm in Honeysuckle Honeydew, Evolution of Smooth, $4

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tech toys

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1. Warhol Snap Case for iPhone 5 in Tropic Blue Flowers, Incase, $40 2. Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 Instant Camera in Yellow, Urban Outfitters, $100 3. Instabook and 10 PostalPix Prints, Photojojo, $25 4. Color Me Coral Tech Case, Mud Pie, $14 5. Printed iPad Cover in Kaleidoscope, Free People, $58 6. Bubble Gum Phone Stand, C. Wonder, $5 7. Marc by Marc Jacobs Heart-shaped Acetate Headphones, Net-A-Porter, $42 8. Green Bobino Cord Wrap, CB2, $3 9. Bluetooth Silicone Keyboard for iPad Tablet in Blue, Brookstone, $50

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SPRING ESSENTIALS

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1. Le Specs Halfmoon Magic Sunglasses in Tortoise, Tobi, $58 2. Retro Window Earrings in Multi Pastel Bright, Kitsch, $10 3. Hair Elastic Cupcake in Pink, Forever 21, $6 4. Margaret Elizabeth Carnelian Cushion Cut Ring, BaubleBar, $77 5. Chevron Stackable Bangle Bracelets in Gold, Mud Pie, $20 6. Benicia Lycra Wedges in Yellow, Dirty Laundry, $40 7. Monet Love Dress, ModCloth, $80 8. Peach Arch Gem Collar, BaubleBar, $34 9. Lola Tote Bag by Shiraleah, Bossa, $105 10. Island Girl Slim Wallet, Spartina, $35

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1. 4x6 Bohemia Beaded Frame by FRINGE, Papyrus, $40 2. Heart-Shaped Ice Tray in Orange, Forever 21, $5 3. Floral Table Arrangement Orange Ranunculus, Target, $13 4. Pushed Out to Tea Travel Mug, ModCloth, $25 5. Namaste Art Panel Print, Papaya!, $18 6. The Sartorialist: Closer by Scott Schuman, Anthropologie, $15 7. Vannerna Rund Pink Rug, Ikea, $8 8. Dachshund Letter Holder, Anthropologie, $32

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SPRING ESSENTIALS

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school supplies

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1. Flora and Fauna Sticky Notes from Cavallini & Co., Keep, $13 2. The Seven Year Pen in Turquoise, Francesca’s, $8 3. Pantone Chip Journal, Barnes & Noble, $10 4. Herschel Supply Co. Post Backpack in Lime Punch, Madewell, $60 5. Industrial Display Boxes, Salvage Life, $40 6. Fruit Shaped Notepad - Pear, FeelGift, $2 7. Kikkerland Wooden Ballpoint Pen, All Modern, $8 8. Alice in Wonderland Scheduler v2, Mochi Things, $27 9. Felted Wool Pen Bag, Infmetry, $12 10. Kikkerland Pencil Sharpener - Pyramid, All Modern, $10

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D.I.Y.

Scarf Hanger Whether you’re living on or off-campus, space is always tight. Instead of tossing your scarves in a box, try this D.I.Y. scarf hanger to save space and get organized.

Bonus, it’s under $10!

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3 Materials 4

Wire hanger * Ribbon (any colors) * Scissors Plastic shower rings * Super glue * Pliers

Steps 1. Take a hanger and use pliers to cut off at the corners. Bend wire so that it is straight.

2. Wrap ribbon around the hanger so that no wire shows. Use super glue to adhese.

3. Wrap ribbon around shower rings and adhese with super glue.

4. Use ribbon to tie shower rings onto hanger and to each other. tote

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the intern diaries Meet Jessica Schimm, 22-year-old journalism major at San Francisco State University, who shares her story on how she landed her dream internship.

Love at first sight?

“I did write for the newspaper when I was in middle school and a little in high school and I actually hated it.” Jessica started out as a creative writing major that ended up taking a left turn when she took a journalism class by accident. “I took this class and automatically just fell in love. I couldn’t stop talking about it the entire summer. I loved my professor. She was dressed up every day, demanded excellence.”

Total Movie Moment

For a school project, Jessica had to interview someone at a magazine. She got her first choice 7x7, a hip and edgy lifestyle magazine. But when she got to their office, it wasn’t quite what she was expecting. “These two girls took me up the elevator at the request of the reception person who was monitoring the door so as I was going up with them, and they looked really young I was like ‘Oh my god. These girls work here. It literally looks like 13 Going on 30. A bunch of young girls in this awesome building working at a magazine, like the top magazine in this big 9 tote

city so I felt so excited. And I was talking to them.” Her small talk paid off as she got an email from one of the girls after the visit, asking her to apply for an internship.

mine had 14,000 views. The next second highest was like 9,000.”

Even when she was a newbie, she had this journalism thing down. She was asked to come up with blog post ideas to pitch. “I came up with this idea and I was What she does thinking I have no idea if they’re Jessica is the Digital Audience going to take it but I had sugEngagement Intern for Califorgested line dancing to talk about nia Home and Design and 7x7 line dancing because I’m from a magazines. She can be found really small town and my friends updating 7x7’s Pinterest board and I love to go to this one place and working on other projects aimed to help their social media. and do line dancing and just hang out and have a fun time, And when there’s nothing else country music. I love country to do, she gets to write posts for music. So I thought I wonder their websites. if they’ll take it, line dancing around the bay area. I was not Major Achievements sure if they were going to at all Jessica says her internship is primarily for 7x7 but that doesn’t because they’re very hipster.

They’re very city. They’re edgy.” stop her from wowing them at California Home and Design Sure enough, the magazine took “I did end up doing one post the pitch. The result? “What hapfor California Home and Depened afterwards was once they sign and it ended up getting the most views for the entire month posted it, in like three weeks it had the highest amount of Faceon that section, it’s in a section called product find, and you put book likes out of all their articles that were on the site within that together a set of photos that are all emphasizing the product and three-week period because I you talk about the design of each kept monitoring it. It had up to one and how they’re different. So 78 people who had liked it from

Facebook. That was probably the best moment of my internship by far.”

Spot on

“The best thing about seeing your work when it gets published is to go back over it and see what they’ve changed and if they changed anything. Usually any time that I’ve written an article for them I go back and there’s just like minor, minor edits and that just makes my day, makes my week. That is the confirmation like wow you’re writing up to their level. You have their voice down because look they didn’t change hardly anything.”

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Jessica said it’s hard for young girls her age to have confidence.

“There’s so many insecurities. You’re always comparing yourself or even if it’s not about your looks you’re comparing how good your resume is to the next girl. You’re always beating yourself up. Or thinking that I’m probably not smart enough, I don’t really know if I could do this position. I don’t really know if I could take on this task.

Once I threw all those thoughts out the door and re-trained my thinking to be just like ‘No you can do whatever you want. You can do anything you want. You just have to let other people know that.’ The way you do that is just by having confidence in yourself. And when they see that, they trust you and they take it.”

Home

Her advice for you

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STRESS less why you should take an extra 5 minutes of me time

Text by: Shelby Newsome

College is supposed to be the best four years of your life. A time to figure out who you are, find your real friends, and date the charming guy from bio class.

But staying up all night to finish a paper, spending an extra hour at your internship, and balancing time for your friends can lead to health issues caused by stress.

“I’ve had issues with stress related problems throughout my entire life,” said Sasha*, a 21-year-old junior at Towson University. “But I think they’ve progressed during my college years really.”

Sasha is not alone. Other girls struggle with some of the same issues. Madison*, a 22-year-old senior at Towson University, said she over thinks things and gets caught up in being nervous.

“If I’m trying to take a deep breath or fill my lungs up with air I just won’t be able to,” Madison said.

“There’s something stopping my lungs from filling completely up.”

While Madison experiences trouble breathing, Sasha’s stress leads to physical pain and a sadness she said is close to depression. For Bethany*, a 20-year old junior at Towson University, the stress can lead to her heart racing and physically getting sick.

“The worst thing about when it was bad is that you can’t focus on anything else,” Bethany said.

Dr. Lillian Carter, a health science professor at

“I have anxiety usually set off by situations that are out of my control.”

Towson University, recognizes the stress that these students have to deal with. She teaches a mental health and stress reduction class. The class covers topics ranging from what is stress and how it affects your

body to social skills to reducing stress using humor.

“It impacts your concentration,” Carter said. “It’s hard to concentrate when you’re really feeling a lot of stress…. It’s hard to be happy if you’re overwhelmed.”

So what exactly causes stress? Dr. Mollie Herman, assistant director of the Towson University’s Counseling Center lists academics, personal issues, and worries about the future as a few causes of stress for college students.

“I have anxiety usually set off by situations that are out of my control,” Bethany said. “Something that I can’t change, for example, traveling or a family member is sick or in the hospital.”

Sasha contributed family changes, friends going away to school, an unhealthy relationship, and weight gain to her stress.

Everyone is different, which means that personal stressors are different and ways to handle them can vary.

“I think the best thing that I did was losing weight,” Sasha said. “I went through a period of time, after a

“It impacts your concentration.”

break-up actually, where I lost 25 pounds and I felt so much better. I had less stomachaches, I had less illness and viruses. I was stressed less. I was happier. I looked better and in turn felt better about myself and about everything.”

Even if you are not looking to lose weight, exercise can be essential to stress relief. Don’t want to exercise?

There are other ways to relieve stress, it’s about finding out what works best for you.

“One thing I do is I’ll just close my eyes and try to clear my mind,” Madison said. “Whatever is bothering me just telling myself ‘Okay. Just stay calm. You need to make a list of what you’re worried about. You need

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to make a list of what you’re going to do about it.’ And just focus on that.”

Herman said she uses a mindfulness-based perspective. She determines what stress is inevitable and what stress is more optional.

“Being a student is demanding and there’s a lot of expectations on your time and exams that take a lot of effort,” Herman said. “That’s inevitable. And having to work really hard is inevitable. But the part that

“Know your boundaries.”

people maybe add to that they don’t realize is the lots of worry about what comes next and procrastinating and telling themselves ‘I’m going to fail this. I’m never going to make this.’ The interpretation of the event is where we can work on modifying things.”

Bethany said she uses a technique called square breathing to help relieve her stress for a few minutes.

Square breathing is a process of internally pushing downward so that your stress gets pushed away from your heart.

“The thing that usually works is talking to my sister,” Bethany said. “I always call her. She’s the only one who I can feel the most vulnerable around obviously because I’ve grown up with her so I really could care less if she sees me bawling.”

Square breathing might be a short-term stress reliever but talking to her sister is Bethany’s long-term relief.

“Sometimes just talking it out helps you to rationalize it in your mind,” Bethany said. “Because when it’s trapped in your mind it’s just this vicious cycle.

When I’m anxious and I don’t talk to somebody I mull it over in my head and it just gets exacerbated that much more.”

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Carter recommends many different stress reduction techniques.

“There are tons of them,” Carter said. “So imagery is one. Where you have guided imagery where you take yourself through this trip. Are you listening to music? That’s a stress reduction technique. There are just so many of them. Really anything that brings you peace is your stress reduction technique.”

Having too much stress takes a toll on the body, on mental health, and quality of life in general. Carter said not enough stress can be just as bad. You need that spark to want to achieve and accomplish tasks at hand. It’s like walking on a tight rope, trying to balance stress and happiness. One wrong placement of the foot and the body comes crashing down.

“Know your boundaries,” Madison said. “I think that’s a hard thing for people to do these days. Especially people who are trying to find a place for themselves in the world because you’re more willing to do things that you might not normally do.”

Understanding yourself and what you are capable of doing is vital to keeping your stress levels perfectly balanced. These Towson University students also lean towards a holistic approach as a way to better themselves.

“A lot of my family members in college took pills to relieve their anxiety but they still have it and they

“I’ve learned that your mind can actually physically make you ill.”

don’t know how to deal with it,” Bethany said. “So if I could figure out a way to work through it without that then that would probably be preferable.”

Sasha took medicine for a while to help with her stress but she stopped taking it. “Progressively, medication is just another chemical in your body,” Sasha

said. “So I don’t think that was a bad idea to come off [of it].”

Throughout her struggle with stress, Sasha has become stronger by learning about her mind and how far she can go to keep moving on.

“I’ve learned that your mind can actually physically make you ill,” Sasha said. “You can have serious stomach symptoms from just something related to in your head.”

“Progressively, medication is just another chemical in your body.”

a social life. If you let the stress get to you then you are only harming yourself.

“There’s a lot more coming up that I want to be able to experience and not get worried about,” Bethany said.

So what are you waiting for? Get out there and try an activity that relaxes you. You’ll thank yourself later. * The names of these girls were changed to protect their privacy.

10 Things That Help Us Stress Less Having a girls’ night in

Madison said she consumes tea as her natural stress reliever.

“I’m a pretty big tea drinker,” Madison said. “I like green tea a lot. Plus, it’s really good for you. So I try to drink 2 or 3 cups of that a day. Sometimes I’ll make a cup of hot water and put honey in it. I’ll do that a lot of times right before bed and it’s a calming thing for me.”

One thing to do to lead yourself back on a track of healthy living is to take a look at your environment.

“Sometimes we live in such a high stressed state that we assume that’s a normal state when it’s not,” Carter said. “It’s high stress. And it’s not normal but we live that way so long that we assume we’re not stressed. This is normal living.”

Maybe making it from one end of the tight rope to the other requires more me time.

“Take a little time each day and lower your stress levels,” Carter said.

Practice yoga, watch an extra half hour of t.v., or write in a journal. Find something that helps keep you calm.

Today you are expected to have prestigious internships while getting A’s in your classes and maintaining

Meditating Going for a stroll on a sunny day Taking a drive with the radio turned up Going to bed early Taking deep breaths Screaming at the top of our lungs Grabbing a cup of coffee with a friend Smiling

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HER CAMPUS ROYALTY Text and images by: Shelby Newsome Meet Ali Pannoni, a senior at Towson University. Not only is she founder and EIC of Her Campus Towson, she’s an aspiring online mogul to look out for.

“I was like ‘Oh my god, this is it,’” she said. “Literally I had this ah-ha moment.”

She wasn’t sure of her niche, but she had found a starting point.

Fast forward two years, and Ali, 21, has built up Her Campus Towson into a popular media outlet for Towson University’s students, with at least 30 members and over 100 students on the email list.

Sitting at a Her Campus Towson meeting is like hanging out with your friends – a girls’ night in. Ali always sits in the middle with girls on either side of her forming a U-shape. She’ll start a meeting and bring up key points (fundraisers, promotions, and article ideas) but along the way the girls digress and Ali was a theater fanatic when she was growing up. start talking about what happened to them the weekend before or how they couldn’t believe what was But she knew she didn’t want to become an actress. going on in the news. Ali digresses as well, getting “My legitimate goal in life was to become the First caught up in all of the excitement. Then she finds a Lady of the United States,” Ali said. way to bring it back to the next point of the meeting.

After taking a political science class towards the In the beginning, it was just Ali. During her sophoend of high school, her life goal changed. more year she discovered Her Campus, an online “I was like ‘Screw First Lady, I’m just going to be magazine for college women. The site, still relatively the President,’” Ali said. “I mean I literally thought new, was looking for college women to start up chapthat. I gave a co-speech at my graduation ceremony ters at their own schools. and at the end I told everyone to vote for me in 2032 “So I thought about it and I was like ‘Okay, I’ll just for President.”

Going into college, she wasn’t sure what she wanted apply,’” she said. “I literally submitted my application on Christmas Eve ‘cause that was the deadline at like to do. ten o’clock at night and it was right before I went to “I literally changed my major ten times,” she said, church,” she said. including costume design, political science, and Two weeks later, she got the okay from the national English. Finally, her parents encouraged her to take a branch and Her Campus Towson was born. mass communication class. Ali acquiesced and soon “I had no prior experience leading any sort of club after found her passion.

As Ali greets me at our lunch date she’s wearing a blue and green floral blazer that her grandmother passed along to her that’s oh-so-chic. She reveals that everything that her grandmother has given her gets her tons of compliments. Ali also warns me that either she’s caught the cold or her allergies are acting up again. But that doesn’t stop Ali from her buoyant attitude and her slight anxiety (normally she’s the one dishing out interviews) towards sitting down with me to talk about Her Campus Towson, her new web project, and life in general.

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“So I kind of was just like ‘I’m just gonna write like I’m a real person and just write about my life and be crazy ‘cause let’s just see what happens,’” Ali said.

As Kane suggested, she had found her niche. And it worked for her.

“They had me on air a few times talking about my blog which was cool,” she said. “And we did a couple segments which the other interns didn’t get to do so I was pretty proud of that.”

For Ali, the Kane Show solidified her passion for online media.

“I just love online media,” Ali said. “I think it’s the coolest thing ever. I feel like we’re going through an enlightenment. An information renaissance.”

And her new project? It’s online, of course.

“I’m starting this website that I’m really really excited about,” Ali said. “It’s for people in their twenties figuring out their life. I want it to be not just exclusively for women. I want it to be heavily concentrated on music and finance and career and struggles.”

She said that Her Campus Towson was her first baby but it’s time for her to give it up. Her website is her second baby that she hopes to keep with her forever.

“My dream is to have my own media company, to have a multi-faceted online company. I’m envisioning it as like Ryan Seacrest Productions meets Martha Stewart, [with] a little bit of Chelsea Handler thrown in there,” Ali said.

With everything she’s juggling – school, finishing up her reign at Her Campus Towson, starting her website, and finding time for her social life – it can be tough.

“I don’t think there’s like some magic answer. That’s something that I have consistently struggled with over the years,” she said.

And when asked if there were any boys thrown in that mix she quickly replied, “Oprah told me when I was 12 that I should never talk about my relationships.” o

before that at all,” Ali said.

And so she begged people to help her. After talking to girls and emailing different campus departments, Ali had gathered a small group. She said there were about 10 people and they didn’t have a room on campus to meet in. So instead they would have their meetings in the third floor lobby of the university’s union building. Ali said it wasn’t legitimate.

“But they believed in the idea and I love them for that,” she said.

At this point, Ali knew she was passionate about writing but wasn’t sure which medium to pursue, print or online.

During her spring semester of her junior year, her professor set her up with an internship at the Baltimore Magazine.

“I really liked that and it really taught me that I didn’t want to do print,” Ali said. “I wanted to do online ‘cause I like how instantaneous it is and I like how you can have conversations with people more so. It’s more I feel like a fluid thing.”

With that in mind, she started her quest for a summer internship.

“I just love New York and I just wanted to go there,” Ali said. “I applied to over 50 internships in New York. I had two interviews. One was really serious and I thought I was going to get it. I was so serious that I even put money like a deposit down for an apartment.”

Although that didn’t work out for her, she landed herself an internship at the Kane Show on radio station Hot 99.5, one of D.C.’s well-known radio stations.

She applied to a few stations thinking, “That’s kind of how I do things,” she said, “I just kind of make like really quick decisions.”

Ali, along with other interns, was responsible for answering phones, editing audio clips, and researching topics for the show.

“I had a conversation early on in my internship with Kane, he’s the host, and he was like ‘We have so many interns but you know you really have to distinguish yourself here and do something that’s different.

Make yourself stand out,’” Ali said, “He talked to us about how we needed to find our niche, our thing.”

The Kane Show had an intern blog that no one had touched for a while. Ali took it upon herself to make that her project. She had read a lot of blogs where the writer wrote in first person and the posts felt more

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spring awakening go for the bold this spring with bright colors, fun textures, and chic patterns model: christine long images: shelby newsome

OUTFIT

sunglasses: rugged warehouse earrings: claire’s necklace: borrowed from mom top: kohl’s dress: t.j. maxx

OUTFIT

earrings: claire’s necklace: rugged warehouse top: ann taylor loft belt: j. crew pants: j. crew shoes: j. crew

OUTFIT

sunglasses: rugged warehouse necklace: rugged warehouse top: j. crew pants: kohl’s bracelet: kohl’s watch: kohl’s bag: rugged warehouse

ENTERTAINMENT

New Kid on the Block Meet Ryan Schmidt

This Boston-based musician is making a name for himself in the industry. With two EPs, a full album, and another on the way, Ryan Schmidt, 24, is someone to watch out for. We caught up with him to get the 411 on his music.

An Early Start

“When I was younger I started playing saxophone actually so I’ve been doing music since I was about 7.” A few years later and he was picking up another instrument as well. “My dad happened to play guitar when he was younger and that’s how I got a guitar. When I was like 11 he dusted off his old guitar from the attic and said ‘Hey this is mine from when I was your age’ and I kind of just stuck with that.”

The College Life

Ryan, originally from Atkinson, New Hampshire, graduated from Northeastern University in Boston last May, where he went for their music industry program. He completed his program in three and a half years instead of the normal five years it’s set for. Northeastern offered a co-op program that gave students the opportunity to do a six-month internship. Ryan took them up on it. “So a year and a half ago my co-op was to set up a two month tour and I just got in a car and I went around the country and played at different colleges and festivals and stuff like that.” Sounds pretty cool, huh?

His Sound

Each album has inspired a different sound. But one thing stands true – his style is acoustic singer/songwriter. “What I really wanted to do with Black Sheep, Run was kind of take the 60’s folk revival sound and kind of pair that with the quirkiness of indie pop like The Shins. So I kind of wanted to put those two together and that’s what I did with Black Sheep, Run.” His latest EP, White Horse took a different turn.

“The White Horse EP that was me more like wanting to really get super lyrical and focus on the lyrics themselves and kind of take direction

Inspiration

“I’d say I get them just about anywhere. Relationships seem to be a big one for me. Not just romantic relationships but family dynamic and friends as well. As long as it’s something that resonates with me I hope that it can connect with other people.”

Shared Interests

Although he didn’t share a release date or name, here’s what you can expect from the new album.

“The new sound is kind of a lot different from what I did before. It’s acoustic soul with some beats. I would say it’s like Bruno Mars meets Ed Sheeran. It’s kind of a dance poppy singer/songwriter record.”

A Date With Ryan

“A perfect date would probably be cooking together. I really love to cook and I find it really attractive when somebody knows their way around a kitchen. Just doing something fun and kind of quirky like oh let’s go bowling or let’s go ice-skating or something that you don’t usually get to do. I’m all about that.” We’re all about that too, Ryan.

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For the first time in his career, Ryan has had the opportunity to explore the realms of cowriting. “I’ve already done three albums and I didn’t want to kind of get stuck in one space. So I spent two months in L.A. over the summer and a month in Nashville this fall and I’ve just been doing a bunch of co-writing.”

Upcoming Album

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back a little bit and so that was just acoustic guitar and a string quartet and a bunch of poems that I started out with.”

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FINALS WEEK Your one stop guide to surviving the most dreaded week of the semester.

Finals week is on its way and with it comes the hysteria of all-nighters, crammed study sessions between classes, and lack of a social life. Not to mention those frantic days when you roll out of bed in your sweats – who has time to look pretty? Whether you have three or five exams, all spread out or all on the same day, Jack Osman, owner of The Wellness Farm, Inc. and former health science professor, explains the finals lifestyle you should adapt from sleep habits to study habits and everything that’s in between.

So you can say buh-bye to all the madness and hello to smooth sailing.

The Basics

In order to create the foundation for your newly formed finals lifestyle, there are three important factors that need to be taken into consideration – sleep, fluids, and oxygen. “What I recommend is plenty of water and exercise even though you say you don’t have time for it,” Osman said. “And I’ll explain why.

For the brain to function best it requires oxygen and H2O, water. To maximize that functioning, a good quality intake of food all the way up to the finals and during finals is very important so that you don’t have any nutritional deficiency.”

Food for Thought

While you may be searching for that catchall food that works wonders on your concentration and memory, you may have to continue your quest. “The best foods are a variety of foods, not any one specific food,” Osman said. In particular, foods that are nutrient dense. “Now that’s a term meaning more nutrients per calorie,” Osman said. “So if you’re going to have more nutrients per calorie, you want to keep the fat down [and] you want to keep the sugar down.” Osman suggested eating three nutrient dense meals a day with one or two snacks in between such as bananas, oranges, or dried fruit.

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Study Habits

Take a tried and true study tip from Aristotle. “To sit and study for hours at a time is not good because there’s no flow of oxygen going through the system,” Osman said. “When Aristotle would lecture, he would do something called ‘peripatetic’ which is a fancy word meaning ‘walk and think.’” Osman said that walking gets the circulation to the mind so that you can think more efficiently. Now that you know how to study, figuring out when to study is just as important. “What I recommend is the 3x3 study approach,” Osman said. “You need to review your information three times over a period of at least three days in order to try to form the traces in your recall pattern in the memory. If you were a real quality student you would try 6x6 or 4x4 or 5x5 but using similar principles.”

Serene Sleep

Osman’s recommendation is to get at least four consistent hours of sleep. He said there are four different phases of sleep, the fourth phase being the deepest level of sleep. During that level, information is being transferred from the short-term brain to the long-term brain. “It’s almost as if you have a hard drive in your head, a huge hard drive,” Osman said.

STUDY GUIDE

10 Songs To Get You Through a Study Sesh

“And sometimes that hard drive fills up and you need to dump it to a database, in order to make more room for the acquisition of new information.”

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While you may feel like a selfless citizen donating blood, it may not be helpful during finals week. Osman said that getting your blood drawn takes away 10 percent of your nutrients. Add the fact that you are studying and getting no sleep and it could cause you to get sick.

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Two no-brainers to avoid during finals week are alcohol and cigarettes. “Alcohol is an empty calorie, in other words, it doesn’t have any nutrients with it,” Osman said. “So I would recommend that a person who is trying to maximize their scores on tests during final exams avoid alcohol. It is not helpful at all and it will bind up some of the oxygen that is necessary for quality thinking. It will also cause dehydration and that dehydration will interfere with maximum thinking capacity.” Smoking will also bind up oxygen, preventing it from getting to the brain.

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“A power nap is under 25 minutes,” Osman said. “If you go over 25 minutes in your power nap, you’ll move into a deeper level of sleep and when you wake up after 35-45 minutes, you’ll be groggy and will not be very efficient at going back to studying.”

Instead of being tempted to snooze your power nap into a full-length nap, try this tip first: drink caffeine right before your nap. “It takes about 25 minutes for the mocha drink to be absorbed and then the caffeine that’s in the coffee will be available for me as a drug of choice,” Osman said. “So when I have that caffeine activated after 25 minutes I will feel more energized also psychologically from a chemical basis.”

Put these songs on repeat and let the inspiration start to flow. These tunes will keep you going even when you’ve hit the 11th study hour. So rock on and study hard.

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Java Infused Power Nap

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RECENT GRAD

TEAM SPIRIT

Amber Sersen, class of 2012, takes the transition from college life to real life seamlessly. From telecommunications major at Lee University in Tennessee to Co-Hostess for the Carolina Hurricanes NHL team, Amber is living her dreams.

College Connections

“I worked for the Southern Professional Hockey League Affiliated Knoxville Ice Bears last season. That was a contact that I had through a professor. She knew somebody there so she got me in touch with them.”

Amber did broadcast, rink reports, and interviews for the Ice Bears.

Her Job Now

“My resume reel from that experience helped me and landed the job with the Canes. So I was hired to do promotions and contests and stuff like that within the game. So intermissions, time outs, I’m doing some spiel about some sponsor or some product or something. But they actually incorporated it so that I’m doing web reports now.” Amber contributes hard work to getting the opportunity to work for an NHL team so quickly. “It’s been amazing and this is where I wanted to be ultimately, working with an NHL team.

So the fact that it happened right out of college just goes to prove that hard work and dedication and all of that definitely played a role into where I am today.”

Favorite Part of Her Job

Being on Her Own

“It was hard, I’m not going to lie, being on my own.

I had many nights where I would light the candles and put on a movie and eat dinner by myself. But that’s okay. I’ve learned to appreciate that because who knows when I’m going to get that again. I’m still working on meeting people and making new friendships but I couldn’t think of a better place to start out my career.”

In the Future

“I would love to focus more on the feature stuff. But 5-10 years who’s to say that I won’t be a reporter for NBC Sports. That’s a dream. But I definitely think that what I’m doing now is helping prepare that.”

Her Words to You

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“For all the girls out there that are stressed out and wondering, it’s more than worth it when it finally happens.” m be r tA eck ou

“I really love interacting with the fans because you can see their passion and my big goal in the industry is to bridge the gap between the fan and the athlete. Just because you want to feel connected. I think that’s the whole purpose of doing what we’re doing. So hanging out with the fans has been great.” Amber has skated

on the rink with fans and wore a fake chicken wing on her head for a contest, all part of the perks of engaging with the fans. “As a hockey fan I absolutely love being around hockey. As someone who loves people I love being able to interact with people and see how they’re doing and just, if I can put a smile on someone’s face, that makes my day. If I can make someone laugh, my day is made.”

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