When students attend a university, especially as a freshman trying to adjust to the college life, mistakes can be made balancing clubs and organizations with schoolwork. 

Kimberlie Moock, the director of New Student Programs, said students might not stay in clubs they signed up for at the beginning of the semester for a number of reasons.

At the beginning of every semester, Registered Student Organizations get together to encourage students to sign up for what they are interested in joining, Moock said.

“Students sign up for clubs that they feel they can contribute to,” she said.

As the semester goes on, students leave the organizations because they do not think it is a right match for them, she said.

“There is a lot of testing out and exploring,” Moock said.

She said around midterms, many students reevaluate their priorities and try to decide if they can handle everything they have committed to.

The students who are involved in many RSOs and have high GPAs have a set ritual or habit on how to move throughout their week.

It is good to set some boundaries, such as focusing on what needs to be done instead of what you want to do, Moock said.

She added as students move forward in their college career at Eastern, they learn how to manage their time better.

“I tell students that you don’t have to be involved in a lot of things, just whatever you are involved in, you are committed and you feel like you are reaping some benefits from participating,” Moock said.

As students move up in the years at Eastern, they become selective in what they join to make sure they are investing their time on something useful for them in the future.

Allan DeOrnellas, a junior early childhood education major and Logistics and Program Specialist, is involved in multiple RSOs at Eastern.  Using a day planner has helped him organize all the club activities he needs to do, he said.

“Before I used a day planner, I used to try and memorize all the stuff I had to do, along with putting in into my phone,” DeOrnellas said.

It worked at the beginning, but as the semester went on he began to forget his activities, so he started using a day planner, he said.

DeOrnellas plans on being a teacher, so being a part of many organizations are helpful towards his future career since he will be planning and organizing for classes.

Sometimes it even takes a semester where the student realizes they made some choices that did not benefit them, and it is going to take some time to bring their GPA back up.  In that case, students only learn a tough lesson, Moock said.

“Just because that happened in that first semester, (it) doesn’t mean that students don’t have the skills and the ability to navigate both the social co-curricular activities they want, and the academic activities and be successful in both,” Moock said.

Stephanie White can be reached at 581-2712 or at sewhite2@eiu.edu.