Summer has begun and it’s already off to a great start! We’ve tucked away the school supplies and we’ve brought out our favorite summer gear. Summer brings adventure, especially for our Alpha Phi ladies. This summer we’re going to give you a look into all of the awesome adventures that we are embarking on, across the US and the world!

Junior, Andrea Jankelow, started her summer far away from Columbia, Missouri. She traveled approximately 14 hours away, by flight of course, for her 10-day trip to Israel! Through a group called Mayanot, Andrea visited Israel to reconnect with her Jewish roots. She described the experience as the most unreal time of her life. In the 10-days, she traveled from the North of Israel, to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and the South of Israel sleeping in tents in the desert and participating in a variety of activities. Throughout the 10-days, she hiked, scaled a 1500-foot mountain, visited ancient ruins and the old city/western wall, went camel riding, and swam in the dead sea. With all of those amazing experiences, it could be hard for some to pinpoint their favorite. However, what was Andrea’s favorite activity out of all of the amazing things she was able to do? It was when she visited an elementary school to teach English to 4th graders!

This trip was an eye opening experience for Andrea, going to a country where the atmosphere was unlike one that she had ever experienced. She left Israel with many new memories and a very different outlook. She said that it was very unbelievable to see the Israelis barely react to a bomb going off 3 miles away from where they were at the time. It definitely made her rethink how lucky we are for our safety in America!

We’re so glad Andrea had an amazing time in Israel reconnecting with her roots and learning to be even more proud of who she is and where she came from! We look forward to hearing from Alpha Phis all over the country and the world about their remarkable summers thus far! Make sure to keep up with our blog so that you can hear their wonderful stories too!

Studying for finals got you overwhelmed? Take some advice from the brightest of the bright, our Director of Academics and our mentors!

1. Reward yourself for making it through certain chunks of studying that you get done. Ex. After making it through a chapter reward yourself with a snack.
2. A few days before studying organize all your material so you don’t waste time the day you are studying with just organizing.
3. Start studying by simply reviewing the material, then figure out what you know and don’t know and study the material you don’t know the most
4. Go through all the assigned chapters and make a study guide of all the important information
5. Make a study guide and read through it until you feel like you’ve mastered the material. Then get a blank sheet of paper and only show yourself the main categories on the study guide and try to write down everything you can remember about that topic. What you don’t remember to write down is what you need to study more.
6. For classes that aren’t conceptually based, like a math class, work through a bunch of different problems. It’s easy to think you know how to do different equations when you’re reading through examples, but the real test is working through problems on your own. Struggle a little before giving up and looking at the solutions.
7. If your teacher posts practice exams, go through the exam and if you have any uncertainty about the answer then don’t answer the question, but circle the question number. At the end of the practice test go through the questions that you couldn’t answer and review those topics, and then answer them.
8. Write your notes out again after lecture or before the exam in the same environment that you will be taking the exam in
9. Use flashcards when you have a lot of memorization

Finally, remember to breathe. Keep your chin up and just take a deep breathe, everything will be great.