Mikayla JagGuide

Hey guys! This week I am going to talk about what I've learned about myself from being a Jag. My college life can be very hectic at times and I have many responsibilities, both inside and outside of the classroom. Throughout, my nearly 2 years of being a Jag, I have learned that I can handle much more than I thought I could. I was a part of many different organizations in high school that kept me busy, but high school work and college work are not at all the same. Being in the Honors College, a Leadership Scholar, a Development Delegate, and a member of several organizations while working a job and maintaining school work can be trying at times, but through all of these things, I have learned better time management and prioritization skills. Even though I am busy, I feel that my college life is preparing me for my life after graduating college. If I can juggle what I have going on now, then I can pretty much juggle anything. If you have any questions, always feel free to ask!

Hey, future Jags! If I could go back in time and give myself some advice before starting college, it would be to avoid procrastination. As a college student, you have much more free time than you did in high school. You may only have one class on a Thursday and have a test on Friday. Sometimes you have to make the hard decision of staying at home to study rather than going out to party. In college, decision-making skills are EVERYTHING! It can become so easy to just put things off until the next day so it is best to be proactive when it comes to the tasks you have to do. Being proactive and not procrastinating can relieve you of lots of stress, so like the title of this blog "Be like Nike and just do it"! If you have any questions, feel free to ask! -Mikayla :)

Hey, future Jags! As senior year comes to a close, it's important to start thinking about the next steps. The summer before entering college can be the best and most nerve-wracking time in your life. So many emotions may be going through your head (anxiety, excitement, fear, etc.), but you must prepare for the road ahead. Personally, I came to South after graduating high school and it was an adjustment coming to Mobile, which is three hours away from my hometown. So, to make your transitions go more smoothly, I am going to give you five tips to prepare yourself to come to South Alabama in the fall: 1. Get your things together. I have lived on campus for the almost two years that I have been at South and I like to make my room look as much like home as possible. If you are living on campus, take the summer to get the necessary things you need for your room in our residence halls. There are many other people around you that will also be going off to college and returning to coll...

Hey, everyone. I am back with another blog for the week and this week, I am going to talk about my one of my favorite outdoor spaces in Mobile. Of course I love going to the beach, but when I don't feel like making the drive, I like to go to Langan Municipal Park. This park is only a short distance away from campus and I love to go there to clear my head or just get some fresh air. There are playgrounds and swing sets, if you want to release your inner child and a track where you can get some exercise. There is a boardwalk over-looking a lake at the park where you can see ducks and turtles swimming in the water. There are spaces to entertain and lots of open space to do any outdoor activity you may have in mind! I like to go there especially when I'm stressed because it is very quiet and relaxing at the park. I think this is a place everyone should come and explore for themselves. That's all for today, guys. Feel free to ask me about all things South! Go Jags!

Hey, guys! I am back with another blog for the week. This week I am talking about how I give back to the community. I have always enjoyed community service since I began in high school so I knew when I got to South, I had to find a way to continue. One of my scholarships requires that I do community service, which I think is really amazing. I do most of my volunteering through organizations that I am involved in like ABK Honor Society and I also do some volunteering as a Development Delegate for the Office of Alumni Relations. We do various things both on and off campus. Aside from these organizations, I also volunteer alone. For people that are not so outgoing, we have a website called South Serves that has so many opportunities and needs that need to be met. You can narrow down where you want to volunteer and what kind of work you want to do. I think it's very important to give back to the community I live in because it keeps me humble and sometimes helping others helps me more t...

Hey, guys! This week I am going to share what a week in my life looks like. The bulk of my weak is taken up by classes and working, but I also do a few things throughout the week to help ease some stress. Last week, I started off the week with classes and on Mondays, I have my weather class. We went outside and launched a weather balloon. We connected a sensor to the balloon so we could see data about the weather on the computer we had set up, which was very interesting. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have yoga class which I absolutely love. I know what you're thinking and YES yoga can be a class on your schedule. Having yoga twice a week helps to keep me relaxed throughout the week. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I like to cook in my room. I live in an apartment style dorm on campus and I love having a kitchen. Generally, I cook enough for a few friends and they come over to talk for a little while over dinner. The culmination of my week was USA Day on Saturday....

Hey, guys. I am back with another blog and this week, I'm going to talk about great places to study on campus. When studying, it's important to find somewhere that caters to the way you study so where I study depends on what I'm studying for. In this blog, I will give 4 of the top places. 1. My room I know this may sound a little crazy and you may think ," You can't focus in your room." Well, that's partly true, but when I am studying for something that requires me to speak or recite, like my Spanish class, I benefit from studying in my room. This way, I don't disturb anyone. 2. The library I love studying at the library when I need complete silence, like to read a book. It is very difficult for me to focus on long tasks while in my room. 3. The Student Center Between classes, I like to sit in the student center mall at a high table and go over some of my work and do assignments. It can be noisy, but I put in my earbuds to combat the outside n...

Hey guys! Today, I am going to talk about how college has impacted me outside of the classroom. I have learned a lot about myself being in college and college has really made me grow up. At home, I was the only child and I did things myself but I always had tons of help and support behind me. Now that I'm on my own, I still have that support but I am having to figure out life for myself and discern the important things from the things that can wait. College will definitely bring out your weaknesses, but it will also bring out your strengths. While at South, I have further affirmed my love for community service and giving back and I am a part of organizations that allow and require me to do so. This love for helping others eventually led me to my major that I was not so sure about coming in my freshman year. Now, I am in the process of applying to the Radiologic Sciences program. I don't think that there is any way that I could have known how college would impact me personally, ...

Hey, guys! Today I'm going to share what I do to make college feel like home. I live on campus, so before arriving in the fall, I like to look at the layout of the room that I am going to be staying in. Then, in the summer, I like to get different decorations so my room is similar to my room at home. I also bring familiar items from home to remind me of home. One thing that I do miss while being away at school are home-cooked meals, so every now and then I like to cook and entertain friends, which I do a lot of at my house and below, you can see my most recent dish. My roommate is one of my friends that I have had since fifth grade so in a way her just being there reminds me of home because we hung out all the time then and still get to hang out now. At home, my family normally turns on music and we clean the house or just dance around and although I don't always do it on the weekends, I make time for my cleaning/dancing sessions regularly. Lastly, one of the best ways to make ...

Hey, guys! Happy New Year! In this blog, I'm going to talk to you guys about my most exciting class this spring. I am most excited about Spanish this semester because I love learning the language. I took the first part of Spanish last semester and soon decided that I wanted to take the second part. I like the class because we speak for our tests rather than taking written exams, which helps me to perfect my skills. Although I won't be bilingual or anything, I'll know a few things to be able to communicate with Hispanic people and confuse some of my friends. Who knows? I might put a little Spanish in my next blog, so stay tuned. Thanks for reading and if you have any questions about me or South, don't be shy to ask. :)

Hey, guys. It's finals week here at South, meaning that we are almost at the end of the semester! Classes have already ended so the last thing to do is take finals and I am free!!! Today I'm just going to talk about a few of my plans for winter break. 1. EAT I live on campus, so most of the time I don't cook my own food. I miss home cooking so much and I can't wait to eat good food. 2. Work I work at Gap in my hometown during breaks, so I will be working there over winter break to earn some extra cash. 3. Spend time with family and friends. Once we graduated high school, everybody went to different colleges so I hope to see some of my friends and hang out with them over the break. It's also fun to spend time with my family because we just like to sit around and laugh all the time. 4. Relax College can get you really stressed so I am going to take this break to completely relax my mind and mentally prepare myself for the Spring semester. Thanks for reading ...

Hey, guys. I am back with another blog to talk about my major. The technical term for my major is Radiologic Sciences which is Radiology. I am currently a sophomore so I am not yet in the program, but I will apply next semester to get in. Here are 5 things about my program: 1. There are summer semesters in this program. Mostly, clinicals are done during the summer. 2. There are 3 tracks to follow, in terms of specialty. Track 1- X-ray plus another modality of choice, excluding ultrasound and radiation therapy Track 2- Ultrasound only Track 3- Radiation therapy only 3. I will graduate as a registered Radiographer. 4. There aren't many seats for each modality so it is very competitive. 5. We have some radiography equipment in the classrooms to practice with. If you have any questions, just let me know. Thanks for reading!

Hey, y'all. Today, I'm going to talk about my typical week as a Jag. No week is the same for me. Although my classes are routine, my extracurricular activities are not. Outside of the usual(classes), I have many other things that take place during my week. I'm involved with many organizations here at South and some of them have meetings that I attend bi-weekly, such as Black Student Union, Jaguar Productions, and Abenefoo Kuo Honor Society. I also do some volunteer work in my free time. Normally, I go to things that appear in the Daily Digest(our nightly email announcements), or through an organization that I am affiliated with. One thing I love about South is the variety of activities we have here. There is ALWAYS something to do so when I see something interesting going on, I try to incorporate that into my week. For example, there is a Trap'N'Paint occurring next week, which is basically a play on a Sip'N'Paint. Since we can't sip, we play music inste...

Hey, guys and gals. I'm back with another blog to let you guys know some interesting things about myself that many people probably don't know about me. 1. I'm an only child. This isn't necessarily rare, but most of the people I know have siblings, so I think it's significant. 2. I skipped kindergarten. I went to a private school at the time and my teacher said that I was completing the work so fast and moved me up to the first grade. If I wouldn't have been moved up, my whole life would probably be way different than it is now. 3. I can play the trombone. I played the trombone in middle school and high school, so 7 years in total, but I haven't played it in a few years. 4. The city I am from has a National Peanut Festival. This event is basically a fair, but there are large tubs of peanuts at every corner. Side note: we also have peanut statues all around the city, because apparently Dothan is the peanut capital of the world. 5. I actually picked my ...

Hey ya'll. This week I'm going to talk about my first visit to South. I came to the November USA Day in 2016 and after leaving, I knew this was where I wanted to be. Everyone that I met was so welcoming and I immediately saw myself going here and growing here. Our campus is so beautiful and there is so much to do. We have state-of-the-art buildings, as well as great majors. USA Day was kind of a blur because I saw so much that day, but I felt at peace with my choice to attend USA. Before I knew it, I was registering for orientation. If you're interested in South, I would highly recommend that you come to visit. This institution looks great on paper, but you can't really get the full effect of what it would be like to be a Jaguar until you visit. So come and visit us. I would love to see all of you. :) 

Hello, all. It's Mikayla and I'm back with another blog topic for the week. Here at South, fall break is upon us. We're at the point of the year where everyone has been wanting a little break, but now we're finally getting it. I don't live too far from Mobile so I will be going home for fall break. I use this time to unplug(but not too much) from work and school. I spend time with my family and eat the foods I can't access easily at school. If you live to far to go home or you're from Mobile, I suggest going to the beach or finding something fun to do that you may not get to do often. I'm not saying don't do work if there is work to do, but don't let work be ALL you do. Professors will assign things over breaks sometimes so be aware of that as well. College life can be extremely stressful at times so take advantage of the breaks that we have to have some time for yourself. Just sit back and relax, because you are going to need that extra boost on...

College is much different than high school. When I was coming in to South, I thought I knew exactly what to expect; I was wrong. So here are 5 tips to help you to be better prepared for the transition from high school/community college to college. 1. Learn how to manage your time well, if you don't already know. In college, there are many times that you'll have more free time than you know what to do with. If you have a few hours between classes and you have homework due, go ahead and do it. Try not to waste extra time during the week, because everything that you push off, you'll have to do on the weekend. 2. Adjust your study habits. I know there are many people that didn't have to study for any tests in high school; that won't always be the case in college so perfect your study habits to actually learn and not just memorize. 3. Research some organizations to join. Schoolwork is very important and the real reason why we're all here, but it is also important...

Hey, y'all! I'm back with another blog topic for the week. I'm going to talk about why you should apply to South and my personal reaction when I was accepted. First and foremost, South is a GREAT place to come and find yourself. I have found my passion for helping people here and I have gotten out of my comfort zone and done things I never thought I would do. I have been extended many opportunities and taken full advantage of them. I never feel alone here because everyone here has the mentality of helping one another. We have many majors to go into here, so there is something for everyone. Without crossing my fingers, I can truly say I enjoy school! I applied to South in my senior year of high school. When I was accepted, I was very excited because South was one of two colleges in my radar. In addition to being accepted, I was awarded many scholarships which made me very happy. I'm pretty sure I got up and danced around the room. Many people stray away from college due ...

Hello, beautiful people. My name is Mikayla Johnson. I am a sophomore at South and I am a Radiologic Sciences major. My favorite thing to do is probably eating and I love to laugh and make others laugh. Now that I've told you a little about myself, I'll tell you a little about South. I would say my favorite thing about South is the available opportunities here. Firstly, there's the opportunity to meet new people. I joined many clubs my freshman year and I met many people who I can now call my friends. I also got the opportunity to network with different faculty members that could possibly write recommendation letters for me in the future. I learned so much about the university and even more about myself and my capabilities. South is a place of diversity and inclusion and there are so many things to do and be a part of. It would definitely be a true statement to say that everyone can find their place here at South. Go Jags!