As we wind down after a crazy semester, which we are lucky enough to have finished in person, we know that the majority of students are excited for break. The sleeping in, the empty to-do list, and the lack of deadlines are all extremely exciting. But even as we get excited for a reprieve from college life, there are five ways we would like to encourage you to have a healthy and productive break!

Rest and Relax

We are sure this goes without saying for most of you, but take some me-time! We’ve all been stressed with a condensed semester. Sleep that extra hour (or four), binge-watch The Mandalorian, eat some good food, and just relax for a bit. It’s difficult to be productive in a stressful environment, so take advantage of the break as a way to reset yourself both mentally and physically. It’s a long break too, so we’re sure that even in the midst of any holiday cheer that may be occurring you can find some time to put your feet up and play a round of Among Us

Focus on Relationships

With this new spike in Covid-19 cases, it will be more important than ever to limit in person contact, but make sure you do not isolate yourself. Focusing on your positive relationships will be helpful for your mental health! Watch a movie with your loved ones, maybe try to learn a new game and play it with your parents (Cribbage is a good one), or find ways to connect with your friends virtually! With a long break it will be so easy to just disconnect with your Hope friends, but make sure you send that text, get conversations going in a GroupMe that has been silent due to semester stress, or set up a time to play games over Google Meet. Don’t isolate yourself, others want social interaction as much as you need it so reach out and focus on those relationships (while staying safe and socially distant)!

Catch Up On Helpful Content

Over the course of this fall semester the Boerigter Center has produced some great content! We know that in the hectic, shortened format of the semester it may have been difficult to take it all in; so, we have some great news for you! All of our Career Camp content has been recorded and can be accessed at this link! And this link has more than just recordings, it has transcripts of the sessions, a fantastic guidebook with activities, and resume examples. So if you are feeling like you have some time to work on your next best step, look through our Career Camp content!

Connect

So much of the professional world is all about connections, and so we hope that you will use part of your break to work on those! This is what The Hope College Connection is for. You can get to The Hope College Connection by going to connection.hope.edu and creating your account. Once you have been approved, you can begin looking through a database of Hope alumni from all around the world and a variety of fields who have joined to help students in some way. You can find people to give you resume advice, networking advice, career advice, and so much more! Take the time to set up an account over break. And if you don’t feel quite ready to start connecting when you first get in, bookmark alumni who you would be interested in talking with so you can come back to them later!

Gear Up for Spring

Throughout all this, remember to recharge and prep for the spring semester. We have some great opportunities that we will be offering for the spring semester and so be sure to look out for those! But more importantly, know that we recognize that being a student is a full-time commitment and that we want to support you in any way possible so feel free to reach out for an appointment if you need help finding that internship you must have to graduate, cleaning up a resume, or practicing interviewing. We want to support you and feel prepared for whatever this next semester may hold for you. 

We hope that you will stay safe and healthy so that when January hits Hope College will again echo with the sounds of students on the way to class and hanging out around campus. Stay healthy and productive!

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