WITH VIDEO: Students find ways to balance class, work, extra curricular activites

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Students Stay Organized from CMLifeVideo on Vimeo.

Annalise Kransz is like many students and must balance a hectic life full of academic and extracurricular activities.

Among the Portland senior’s many activities are being a news anchor for News Central 34 on MHTV, the treasurer of the Organization of Women Leaders and the co-chairperson of public relations for the Leadership Advancement of Scholars.

She said she uses organizational tools to help her manage her busy life.

“A planner with lots of highlighters,” she said. “I think I would go insane if I didn’t have my planner.”

Dewitt junior Liz Fedewa and Ann Arbor senior David Nickodemus are both majoring in music and said they have a hefty work load with hardly any leisure time.

“A freshman music major will generally have 10 classes,” Nickodemus said. “We have our regular academic schedule, plus practice time, plus homework time, plus rehearsal time, instrumental practice time and concerts to attend.”

Fedewa said if she were to combine her free time, study time and time for sleep, it only adds up to about nine hours.

She said the Music Building feels like her home because she is there so often. She said she keeps two extra pairs of shoes in a locker there, has eaten meals, brushed her teeth and even slept there.

“I made the bad choice to do music with a minor in math and be in the honors program,” she said. “Free time depends on how much I want to sleep.”

Nickodemus said they find balance by figuring out what matters most for their grades. Sometimes he has to skip one assignment to accomplish three others and pick which grade he needs to save the most.

“It’s definitely a balance between what will have a bigger impact in my grades right now and what I can make up later,” he said.

Sophomore Austin Krompetz is a physical therapy major taking 15 credits, going to night labs and still driving home to Gladwin to work on the weekends. Krompetz said his hardest class is human anatomy, which is one of the main reasons he says he studies a lot outside of class.

“Everything has to be memorized by sight,” he said. “There’s usually two parts to every question. It’s really hard.”

Krompetz said he balances life by maintaining a schedule he keeps to help him keep up with his classes.

“I use iCal on my computer,” said White Lake freshman Trevor Griffin. “I just stick to the schedule and it works out good.”

Between classes and working in the library, Griffin said that scheduling helps because it prepares him for the work load and keeps him from becoming ambushed with overload.

“It’s less stressful because nothing comes unexpected,” he said. “It helps me stay in control of what I need to accomplish.”