Blog

It is no secret that our school is beautiful. From sitting in the rocking chairs outside of the Clocktower Lounge, to laying in the sun in the University Suites courtyard, this campus provides numerous “favorite” spots for everyone. The multitude of trees and other greenier around the residential areas are practically calling students to set up their hammock and stay a while.

I mean, who doesn’t love an afternoon in an eno?

With spring finally here, the flowers are starting to bloom and the temperature is perfect! The cold weather is gone and the piping hot weather has not hit us yet so the opportunity to take advantage is now. If you don’t have a hammock the library, amphitheater, and intramural fields are also popular spots for enjoying the sun.

Although the intramural fields are closed, once reopened they are perfect  for a nice evening enjoying a game of pick  up soccer, or watching your friends in the flag football tournament.  The fields also provide a wonderful view of the skies during sunset:

As we approach the end of the semester, make sure you find what spot helps you study or take a break and de-stress. Final exams are coming quickly and we will all need a moment to relax and give our minds a rest if only for a moment.

Already have a favorite spot on campus? Share in the comments below.

-Madeline, Tiersa,  Sydney W, Sydney S.

Spring is a time for new beginnings and fresh starts. For businesses and other organizations, spring offers several opportunities for promotions. While there are at least three opportunities in every month of spring, we’re going to narrow it down to the best opportunities for the months of March, April, and May.

March is a big month for promotions with events like March Madness, Winter Closeouts, and Easter. While these are all great inspirations for your next promotion, the best opportunity comes when school lets students out of school for an entire week. That’s right, spring break. Spring break is something everyone from the ages 4 to ages 22 and older look forward to. College students flock to the shores and families take vacations. This is a big event for tourism. Hotels, bars, and recreational places are presented with the perfect chance to offer specials that attract the vacationers. What this really does is open the door for place or city branding to occur. Place branding is when a city or town uses positioning to market itself a certain way in order to attract a specific target audience. In the case of spring break, cities like Panama City, FL position themselves as a party spot that attracts college students to come spend the week with them. Whereas Orlando, FL has branded themselves as a family vacation spot due to the recreational attractions such as Disney World and Universal Studios.

April offers a very specific opportunity for organizations to foster business to business relations as well as enhance public perception. This opportunity is Earth Day, held annually on April 22nd. With an emphasis on going green, offices can make the switch to more eco-friendly office materials, production companies to eco-friendly supplies, whatever fits the need of the company. Spring cleaning to cleaning up the environment. In doing so they are able to partner with a supplier that offers these materials, developing new B to B relations. As this occurs, depending on how publicized the switch is, perceptions will likely be positively enhanced.

May has several holidays often used for many different kinds of promotions. Mother’s Day is an important occasion that retail and restaurants both take advantage of for sales promotions. Retail stores use this holiday as an opportunity to promote special products for children, grandchildren, and even husbands to give as presents. Restaurants utilize this holiday as an opportunity to offer specials for family lunches or dinners only on Mother’s Day.

There are many more promotional opportunities throughout spring, but these three events hold a lot of potential for organizations to take advantage of. While you’re out and about, enjoying the spring weather, be sure to keep an eye out for all the great promotions!

-Austin, Jonathan, & Kaela

Its that time of year again when the flowers start blooming and the weather gets warmer. That’s right, spring has finally sprung. Before you go running to get your bikinis and flip flops out, remember that the semester doesn’t stop just because the weather is nicer. It is important to remember to stay focused and not lose sight of the rest of the semester. Here’s a list that we gathered from some helpful websites that give you advice on how to properly stay focused during these next couple of months!

1. Quit trying to multitask

This basically means to stop trying to put a million different assignments on your plate at once. For each assignment, take it on by itself to ensure that it will be quality work with no distractions.

2. “Chunk” your work

Being organized when completing assigned work is crucial. By categorizing assignments or tasks and breaking them up into smaller sections makes them seem less intimidating and is easier to start. Creating “chunks” of sections that need to be completed by a certain time is also helpful when trying to finish any sort of task.

3. Offer incentives

Part of being a human being is wanting an incentive for completing a task or an assignment. You can add this to your studying method by setting goals for yourself once the task is completed so all of your hard work will have seemed to pay off.

4. Create the right environment

For some people, being around a large amount of people during their study time can get distracting. If you are one of these people, create a quiet environment for yourself whether it is in your room, the library, or a coffee shop. Listening to music can also be beneficial to drown out any outside noise that could effect your concentration. The biggest tip in this area for our generation is to turn off or put away any electronic devices that do not need to be used during your studying. Even if it is for thirty minutes, turn your cell phone off to avoid any possible distraction so you can get things done faster!

5. Take a break if you need to

Sometimes after hours of cramming or reading over notes it can become overwhelming. When this happens, take a break! Having breaks in between hours of studying or working on assignments is completely okay and is recommended if you feel like you are starting to slip away into another day dream. Close your notebook or laptop and go step outside for a couple of minutes to gather your thoughts.

6. Cardio

Did you know that cardio activities actually are beneficial to memory and concentration? Whether it’s a walk around campus or running to the gym, any sort of cardio will only help benefit studying.

7. Sleep is essential

This is a tip that most parents have been saying since we were young, but don’t realize how vital it is until college! Having the right amount of sleep is imperative for concentration for any sort of task in life, especially academics. Make sure to take care of your body and make it a priority to get the right amount of sleep!

Do these tips sound helpful to you? What are some of the ways you plan on staying focused this spring semester? Let us know!

-Addison, Sloane, & Pauline

 

sources: http://www.collegefashion.net & http://www.hercampus.com

 

As college students, we start maturing and realizing everything we post on social media is there for everyone to see. This includes friends, family, and future employers. As important as it is to do Spring cleaning around the house, it is also important to do this on social media. Here are some helpful tips to get you started on your social media Spring cleaning.

1. If you haven’t done this before I would advise to google your name to see what images come up. This might seem weird to do at first but is important to see what is out there when your name is searched.
2. Go through your pictures on both Facebook and Instagram. Delete pictures that you do not think reflect yourself well. Also, go through your Twitter and other sites for anything you have written that could be considered inappropriate.
3. Change your settings to private. If you have not already done this, go change it now.
4. Scroll through your friend list and unfriend anyone who you do not know personally. I know it seems cool to have over 1,000 friends but it is a good idea to trim it down to specifically who you know.
5. Go through all social media outlets and clean out the clutter by removing inactive and spam profiles.
6. Make your profile pictures look professional! It’s the first look an employer gets of you do you want it to count!
7. Clean up the comments that are posted on your photos and shared posts.
8. Make sure to add LinkedIn and Twitter to your social media outlets.

As college students, professionals are examining your social media presence. You want to make a good first impression and sometimes your social media profiles can ruin that.

Are you going to Spring clean your social media profiles? Let us know below!

-Caitlin R, Megan S, Erin F, & Sarah G

References: Hootsuite, Outbound Engine, HuffingtonPost

We have made it to spring! The weather has started to warm up and the pollen is out. For us Wilmington students, the warm weather means what? BEACH! Not that the cold weather ever kept a few Seahawks from enjoying a nice walk on the sand, but 70 and 80 degree weather means tank tops and sun tans.

While the week before spring had better beach weather for us than this week, rest assured that as final exams approach, the warm weather will too and we will all need to take a moment to release the end of year stress that only Wrightsville Beach can help us release. One of our bloggers had the opportunity to grab some donuts and hit the sand last week.

“As I prepare to graduate, one thing I wish I would have done during my time here is take advantage of attending a school so close to the beach. I plan on making that up with the remainder of my time here.”

If the beach isn’t your style, check out the waterfront downtown. Nothing beats strolling through the shops with a nice cup of Kilwin’s ice cream. There’s also plenty of new places opening up every month.  Not too long ago Beer Barrio opened up. One of our bloggers went there and said it is definitely her new downtown go-to.  It has a cool, laid back atmosphere that is unlike many of the traditional downtown eateries.  And who doesn’t love a place with a wide selection of beer and Mexican!?

Wilmington in the spring has so much to offer with its great atmosphere and beautiful weather. Coming up is the Azalea Festival in April. It’s one the biggest events held every year downtown and more information can be found here. Snoop Dogg will be performing this year so be sure to check it out!  Another event coming this April is Wilmington’s annual Wingfling!  Don’t miss out on live music, wings, beer, and much more April 16th.  More info on that can be found here.

Spring in Wilmington is unlike anywhere else.  With festivals, great surf, and fun events, this season is sure to be a great for all family and friends in Wilmington. We hope you all have a fantastic first week of Spring!

-Tiersa, Madeline, Sydney W, Sydney S.

 

Happy COM Studies Day fellow Seahawks!

Use the links below to keep up with all the action as we live tweet and live blog today’s events!

COM Studies Day Morning Panel

COM Studies Day Afternoon Panel