Navigating my college years through online school was not the easiest, but it definitely was manageable.

You go to college to pursue your goals and dreams. My experience is that in college, your value is reflected in your passion, excitement, and eagerness to learn. Academic integrity is the level to which you honestly and passionately apply yourself to your studies. Most likely, you are in college to prepare for your career so that means being proactive, seeking new knowledge, and acting with integrity. College should not be a burden, it should be a privilege. You just have to find the path that makes you excited to come to class every day.

Academic integrity seems even more important in college than it did in grade school. This is definitely a feeling that can be felt by every college student as the punishment for plagiarism is reiterated with every paper I get assigned. 

Academic integrity may not seem like topic that is super important to read about, but is definitely ignored a lot more than it should be. Seeing how practicing integrity in a academic setting now can help you in the future with your job and in general.

The feeling of finally submitting that paper that you’ve worked all semester on, and closing all those tabs is SO rewarding when you can be proud of the work you put your name to. 

Music students have a busy schedule. Between double majors, classes, friendships, and practices, it can be crazy. Here’s my day in the life of a music student, my typical Monday.

Academic integrity is the unspoken moral code of academics. It’s the idea that your teachers, peers, mentors, expect you to do your work from a place of honesty and fairness. To me, academic integrity means taking responsibility for your academic work.

My first week of my second semester of junior year was...long and short at the same time. It did pass by quickly, since half of my in-person classes were cancelled for most of the week, but slowly also, because most of that free time was spent sitting around, waiting for something to come up to entertain me.

With the spring semester on the horizon, college students look forward to starting a new semester, feeling refreshed and well-rested after the winter break. However, for many students, there will come a point in the semester when they feel physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. In pop culture and more importantly, in medicine, this instance is known as “burnout.” For individuals, burnout can manifest in many ways, such as painful headaches, consistent fatigue, increased anxiety, emerging depression, and frequent illnesses. With all that students have to do everyday in their non-stop semester or quarter, it is not surprising that students grow exhausted, causing their mental and physical health to collapse. This past semester, I struggled with burnout as I became increasingly overwhelmed with a crescendo of performances, assignments, papers, and exams. However, having navigated this before, I have assembled some tips and helpful habits below for dealing with burnout even when you have to keep going. Whether you feel overwhelmed, stressed, or emotionally and physically drained, here are a couple of useful tips to help manage burnout.

This upcoming quarter, I will be working on UCSD Muir Musical’s production of Into the Woods as the Production Dramaturg. This is the first musical in a year since working on American Idiot and I’m so excited to be working with Sondheim this time around. In preparation for the first week of rehearsals, I’m crafting my dramaturgy packet as well as crafting a website for the cast and crew to use.

As a young performer, it was always my dream to attend a prestigious, impossible BFA program at an academically focused school. However, as I grew as a person, I quickly realized that a traditional college experience just wasn't for me. The first time I visited Columbia College Chicago was just a confirmation of those feelings, and I couldn't be more grateful that I chose a non-traditional school to continue my education in the performing arts.

Taking some time to reflect on another year of school, theatre, life in general is an important thing to do. Time passes by so quickly, so cherish the big victories and the little moments.

This past quarter I had an amazing opportunity to intern for La Jolla Playhouse in their Marketing and Communications department. It was my first experience working in an office and more specifically in a non-profit organization. From helping out with VIP Celebration Nights to attending intern seminars, these past few months have been a great time for me to learn more about the Playhouse and arts administration. 

I’ve been more into theater these past years, but it was until this one that I've really experienced it and discovered why it’s one of my happy places. That’s why I put into words what I wanted to say.

I am a person who takes planning for the future very seriously, usually fabricating a plan A, B, and sometimes even a C before I feel confident enough to make any serious decisions. However, if there’s anything I learned about making future plans is how often they change.

In the month of December I was part of a staged reading of a student written musical, Mary Shelley, through the Sandbox Student Series at the University of Colorado Boulder. The musical was written by a CU student and follows the life of Mary Shelley, mother of science fiction and author of Frankenstein.

Burnout hit me hard at the end of this semester. Having to go back to school for two weeks after Thanksgiving and before winter break felt impossible. I had just been at home doing nothing for a week and now I was expected to jump right back into final projects and studying for final exams, but I really wanted to end my semester strong.

Ah, 2022, what could I possibly say about you? You introduced me to photography, something I had previously enjoyed but developed a deeper appreciation for just because I learned the craft.

Winter Break... what isn't there to love? For starters, it's the month of December which is filled with many exciting events that I look forward to throughout the year. The first one is my birthday which starts at the top of the month and then leads into the best and longest break my university offers us.

Burnout. A word that I believe every person on this whole planet has experienced at least once in their lifetime. It is not fun, it can make you irritable, and creeps up on you at the most important and busiest times of your life

If you are a workaholic like myself, you understand that taking breaks is super important to your overall well-being. Life is not solely about working and worrying about fulfilling deadlines, therefore maintaining a healthy balance of personal life and work life is key to living a life with beautiful memorable moments.

These past few weeks have been very hectic with little room for breaks. After a long string of chaos, I remained motivated telling myself that a break would come shortly. You can imagine my horror when I looked at my calendar and saw that finals week was set to start and due to some impeccable timing, so was my burnout.

First semester of junior year at MBU was probably the most notable of any semester so far of college. For one, my best friend, the one on the right in the picture, started working at the university and will be starting school there in a couple weeks.

For me, burnout started to set in right after Thanksgiving break. Like most students, I took those few days to relax, spend time with family, and not think about schoolwork. I dreaded the turnaround time from Thanksgiving break to the long haul grind to finals week. I wore down quickly. Desperately, I needed something to boost my spirits and motivate me to get through finals week.

This year I participated in an end-of-the-year final concert for my vocal teacher. The performance took place at the HardRock cafe in Pittsburgh where I sang a few musical theater pieces. Live performance returns once again and so do the on-stage jitters.