College can be a difficult time for many students. Between classes, clubs, friends, and family, 24 hours in a day doesn’t seem like enough. To help students adjust, SDCA hosted an open dialogue event Thursday night, “Adjusting and Balancing Your Social Life.”

The discussion was held in the Kessel Student Center Conference rooms C and D. Sitting in an open circle, 20 students interacted as Orientation Leaders Lesley Donelan, Jonathan Alvarez, and Brittany Spencer guided through a PowerPoint presentation loaded with tips for students on becoming better balanced.

“When I was a freshman I had a hard time balancing my time,” Donelan said. “From social life, schoolwork, family and other things, time management was an adjustment. So, an event like this would have definitely helped me out. Every year this kind of event should be held.”

The topic of the day was time management. As the discussion went on, students shared their daily struggles of college life and how it is a constant adjustment figuring out how to balance their time with all that they are involved in.

“We’re not experts, we’re students too,” Donelan said. “Students having a discussion and open dialogue that’s what we really wanted.”

Orientation Leaders running the presentation mentioned how every semester they “Press the reset button, figure it out again.” Finding the exact amount of time to dedicate to each area of college life is an indefinite formula.

“This is my first semester here, and, a month in, I feel like every day I am challenged to commit the right amount of my time to the things I am involved in,” transfer student Zach Aldorisio said. “With everything I have going on and also wanting time just to sleep, my schedule is in a constant flux. This event gave me a few ideas I could implement into my routine that would help.”

Tips shared throughout the presentation were the importance of organization and having a schedule. Keeping track of all responsibilities can help students prioritize and waste less time.

The popular college myth that a student can only have two of the three things which include: good grades, a social life, and sleep was busted during the presentation. Despite agreement that it is difficult to maintain, Orientation Leaders offered that it is possible for a student able to readily make adjustments when necessary.

“I myself kind of believe it to be true that you can only choose two of the three,” Aldorisio said. ”But with this presentation I have some hope that it can be done.”