With the 2020-21 academic year coming to a close, The Hilltop Monitor honors its senior staff members, who each have taken time to reflect upon their experience at William Jewell College and share their plans for the future. During their time at Jewell, these staff members have all contributed their time and talents to make the Hilltop Monitor successful.

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Christina Kirk, Oxbridge institutions and policy and international relations major, served as the Editor-in-Chief for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years. After graduation, she plans to work in a clinical setting before taking the MCAT and applying to medical school. Kirk said she is grateful for the opportunities to authentically engage with the Jewell community.

“I will miss a lot of little things like coming to the PLC early in the morning on a cold winter day, grabbing a latte from the Beak and working on homework for a few quiet hours,” Kirk said. “I will deeply miss people like Kiki, Dr. Wilkins and Dr. Lisenby – brilliant individuals who are inconceivably caring and friendly and always make an effort to check in with students.” 

Kirk began writing for the Monitor in fall 2017 with an urgent news story about the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. As an exceptional writer and leader, Kirk helped to uphold The Hilltop Monitor’s prestigious local reputation during both her years as Editor-in-Chief. In April, for the third year in a row, The Hilltop Monitor won first place in the Missouri College Media Association (MCMA) Sweepstakes category for its competing division, winning 21 individual awards along the way. During her time as a writer and editor, she authored 74 stories. 

Kirk won first place in Investigative Reporting at the 2021 MCMA competition with her article “Jewell uses Intercultural Development Inventory to assess cultural competence;” first place in the Sports Column category with her article “Opinion: Enough with the looks-policing in women’s sports;” and second place in the Information Graphic category with her graphic “Intentions for Re-Opening: National Statistics.”

Kirk said she enjoyed seeing new writers develop their journalistic styles and interests over the years.

“The Monitor is not only a great creative outlet for students, but it is also indispensable to the ‘critical thinking’ core of Jewell as an institution because it allows students to critically evaluate and question how well the College serves its community,” Kirk said.

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Catherine Dema, Oxbridge history of ideas and physics major, served as the 2020-21 Features and Investigations Editor. She will be attending the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School next year to pursue public interest law. Dema is grateful for the friends and professors who have supported her during her time at Jewell. She stated that The Hilltop Monitor provided her with many opportunities. 

Dema began writing for The Hilltop Monitor in fall 2017 with an opinion piece about the politicization of science. True to her inquisitive nature, Dema never hesitated to dive deep and provide the community with stories that mattered, be it timely updates on Jewell’s COVID-19 response or an objective examination of diversity at Jewell. She wrote 88 stories.

“Hilltop has served as a constant throughout my time at Jewell and it’s helped me develop friendships I wouldn’t otherwise have,” Dema said. “Also, the Monitor has let me dig into the problems, events and news that I’m passionate and curious about at Jewell.”

Dema won an honorable mention spot in In-Depth News Reporting at the 2021 MCMA competition for her article “Jewell overhauls orientation mentor program in radical inclusivity efforts, COVID-19 response;” second place in Investigative Writing for her article “Jewell cuts 2021-2022 tuition by 45% to increase price transparency,” which was co-authored by Kirk; and honorable mention for Feature Writing for her article “Students and alumni attend local protests in opposition to racism and police brutality,” also co-authored by Kirk.

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Hannah Koehler, psychological sciences and English major, served as the 2020-21 Arts and Culture Editor. She plans to work in the nonprofit sector before attending graduate school for psychology. Her favorite part of college was the support system she built. 

Koehler began writing in fall 2017 with a lifestyle piece criticizing small talk and, with an impressive eye for photography, supplied the Monitor with stunning photo features ever since. In total, she wrote 53 articles, ultimately gifting many of them with unforgettable snapshots into the beauty of all things arts and culture.

“From writing about picnics to Jewell’s historical ties to slavery, the Monitor has allowed me to write about things that matter to me without having a grade attached to it,” Koehler said. 

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Savannah Hawley, Oxbridge literature and theory and French major, served as both the 2020-21 Managing Editor and Chief Copy Editor for the Monitor. Hawley plans to work in journalism after graduation and said her favorite thing about Jewell is the connections she made.

“The relationships I have with my professors and the lifelong friendships I’ve made here were worth every second,” Hawley said.

Hawley began writing for The Hilltop Monitor in fall 2017 with a story about Jewell students fostering animals from local shelter KC Pet Project. As a walking aesthetic, a connoisseur of Kansas City’s culinary arts and an intellectual, she wrote a total of 58 stories, featuring anything from reviews about local vegan cafes to collaborating on investigative pieces about Jewell’s historical ties to slavery.

She said she enjoyed the articles she wrote and will miss the tight-knit team. 

“My favorite memory from the Monitor would probably be going around Kansas City [my] first-year to review coffee shops with Hannah [Koehler] and Catherine [Dema],” Hawley said. “It was so fun to spend time with them while working on an article.”

Hawley won first place in Sports Writing at the 2021 MCMA competition with her article “Recap of the Current Athletic Season,” and third place in the website design category alongside Kirk.

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Madison Carroll Porth, Oxbridge institutions and policy major, will be attending Vanderbilt Law School next year. She said she cherished her time at Jewell and is grateful for the lasting friendships she has made the past four years. 

Carroll Porth began writing in fall 2017 with a news article about criticism surrounding former president Donald Trump’s response to a fallen U.S. soldier. Carroll Porth authored 49 articles on a remarkably comprehensive range of topics, frequently reporting on hard-hitting issues like gender inequality in sports one week and publishing Buzzfeed-like quizzes the next.

“I enjoy writing stories and getting to have a creative outlet when I’m bogged down with school,” Carroll said. “My favorite memory was writing the story about the Jewell 2017 lawsuit with Christina [Kirk] and Sofia [Arthurs-Schoppe]. It is also my most stressful monitor memory.”

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Minnie Goodbody, digital media and communications major, plans to pursue a career in audio/visual editing or social media marketing. She said her college experience was challenging due to the pandemic but she will miss Jewell greatly. Goodbody’s favorite part of her college experience was the lifelong friends and mentors she met. 

Goodbody began writing for the Monitor in winter 2020 with an advice piece about how to start off a new year stress-free. She wrote 14 stories, enriching the Monitor with posts about anything from conspiracy theories to senior features to infographics.

Goodbody won first place in the Nonpolitical/Entertainment Cartoon category at the 2021 MCMA competition with her piece “Cartoon: 2020’s New College Reality.”

“I will miss working on such an inviting and inclusive team of creatives,” Goodbody said. “My favorite memory has to be writing about the Rat King.”

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Junior members of the Oxbridge Honors Program will also be bidding The Hilltop Monitor farewell: Michaela Esau, Oxbridge literature and theory and communications major, and Kyler Schardein, Oxbridge institutions and policy and international relations major.

Esau will be studying literature abroad her senior year at the University of Oxford. She describes her Jewell experience as a time of personal growth. She said her favorite part about the college experience was living on campus with friends.

Esau began writing for the Monitor in fall 2018 with an Arts and Culture story highlighting Jewell students’ international summer plans and authored the much-needed college advice series “Call Your Mother.” She never failed to provide the community with both trendy lifestyle pieces and impactful news stories, writing a total of 62 articles during her time on staff.

“I’m going to miss the people on The Hilltop Monitor,” Esau said. “It’s truly an incredible community and I’ve been so lucky to get to write with an amazing staff. My favorite memory would be writing my April Fool’s Edition story about editorial staff’s various issues with dining services.”

Esau won first place in Editorial Writing at the 2021 MCMA competition with her article “The impact of community on learning,” and third place in the Column category with “How to be good when the world is bad.”

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Schardein served as the 2020-21 Perspectives editor. He will be studying abroad next year at Mansfield College at the University of Oxford. Schardein said he is grateful for the friendships he has made, as well as the different perspectives and processes of thought he has been exposed to during his time at Jewell. 

Schardein said he will miss the Hilltop community and has fond memories of his time working with the Monitor. He began his journey with the Monitor in fall 2018 with an opinion piece on the impact of former President Donald Trump’s trade policies, and he overall utilized his interest and natural talent in policy- and news-writing to deliver 44 imperative and thought-provoking articles to the local community.

Schardein won second place in News Writing at the 2021 MCMA competition with his article “The Movement to Remove a Confederate Soldier Statue from Liberty.”

“My favorite Hilltop memory is also my first one,” Schardein said. “At the first-year organizations fair, the older students working the Hilltop counter were so friendly, enthusiastic, and kind, and as a shy and partly overwhelmed first-year, that struck me and helped inform my decision to initially join the staff.”

I had a meeting with one of my favorite professors a few weeks ago. We started the meeting with the usual pleasantries and questions about how things are going. I told her they were going surprisingly well. I was ahead of schedule on multiple projects, had just gotten a good grade on a paper and was balancing being a student-athlete with the workload of senior-level courses. 

About ten minutes later I was crying on our Zoom call. She mentioned my plans to study at the University of Oxford next year – something I was supposed to do this school year – and I expressed my nervousness about the pandemic changing my plans again. Suddenly, I went from happily discussing how well I was managing this year to watching tears stream down my face on my Zoom camera. Watching yourself cry in real-time is one feature of Zoom I would have preferred to never find out existed. 

I thought that I was fine and then I wasn’t. I kept myself so busy this year that I managed to ignore that this pandemic doesn’t have an end date. In fact, I blocked most things about the pandemic out of my mind. I think we all have – it’s one of the only ways to cope. 

“This clearly has been bothering you,” my professor said in our meeting. It was clear to her that this year has caused me some anxiety, even though it hadn’t been clear to me.

I can remember telling my family how surprisingly normal school was when the year started. I’ve been living with my friends, spending days studying at the PLC and attending my classes. I’ve been sleeping the appropriate amount and eating the appropriate amount and getting good grades. My immediate family is healthy and fully vaccinated. By all indications, I am fine. 

I’ve been so fine that when I hear people talking about how professors should give students more grace this year, I’ve rolled my eyes a little. Sure, we’re in a pandemic, but haven’t we all figured this out by now? Shouldn’t we toughen up and get over it? Isn’t the stress we’re feeling just normal school stress? 

The thing is, it’s not normal to cry on a Zoom call over whether or not I will eventually get to study abroad, something that is a foundational part of the rigorous program I’ve spent the past three years working so hard to complete. It’s not normal to stress about if I’ll get quarantined for my final few weeks at Jewell. It’s not normal to worry about how the only time I could schedule my second vaccine is twenty-four hours before I take the biggest test of my college career and debate whether or not I’ll be too sick. 

I recently had a panic attack, another thing that is not normal for me. I had just sent an email to a group of professors regarding a project for The Hilltop Monitor. I started shaking and my vision went blurry. I was spiraling, and for the next twenty-four hours I was physically sick with anxiety. My panic attack was about more than just sending an email.

This year I felt painfully vulnerable every time I turned in an assignment or emailed a professor. My classes all require me to constantly write and present my ideas to then be critiqued, which I usually enjoy. I spent more time worrying that my words were embarrassing or unintelligent this year. I think education is something incredibly personal, and it requires a level of vulnerability. It’s hard to be vulnerable with people who you only interact with through a computer screen. I struggle with how impersonal and isolating my education has become.

All of my classes are virtual. Sometimes, I feel like my professors are not even real people, just email addresses and accounts on Zoom. I wonder if they feel the same way about me. I used to stop by their offices or hang around class a little longer if I had a question or just wanted to talk. Now, I debate if my question is worth typing up an email and scheduling a Zoom meeting. Most of the time, it isn’t. 

The other day, I realized that it had been over a year since I had seen any of my English professors. Throughout my college career, I have written hundreds of pages of my thoughts for these professors to read. They’ve spent hours writing feedback on these pages. They’ve had a profound impact on me, and I’ve grown so much as a person and a student because of them. Last March was probably the last time in my life I will ever see any of them.

Our professors are doing the best they can to make sure we have a positive college experience while being safe. For me, it has been an overwhelmingly positive experience. I am learning and making memories with friends. I am doing just as well in my classes as I always have. I know my professors are always there for me – it might just not be in person. It’s not their fault that students feel disconnected, but that doesn’t mean the disconnection isn’t difficult. College during COVID-19 is difficult for us all. 

If you’re feeling unmotivated or unsupported or just sad, it’s okay. It’s normal. Being a college student is harder this year, even if you get so absorbed with survival that you forget. Just because you appear to be doing well doesn’t mean things aren’t tough. Give yourself grace. 

“This has clearly been bothering you,” my professor told me as we talked to each other through a computer screen.

Whether you realize it or not, this pandemic has probably been bothering you, too. I felt a lot better once I was able to identify the emotional toll of virtual learning. Processing the impact this year had on us won’t be easy, but it’s going to be an important part of moving forward. 

We’ve all heard plenty of advice on what to do to manage stress. We may have even actually learned from that advice and figured out how to keep our own stress levels in check. However, this advice can’t prepare us for another particularly stressful situation: when our friends are stressed out. 

Our cortisol levels are likely to increase when we’re around stressed people, resulting in a condition called second-hand stress. When the people around you are worried about school, post-grad life or some other anxiety-inducing situation, it can be tough to know the right thing to say or do to help them feel better. Here are a few tips to try to help the stressed-out people around you – both for their mental health and your own. 

It’s important to recognize when a friend is dealing with normal stress and when the issue is something more serious. We all deal with stressful weeks, but if you notice major changes in a friend’s personality, sleeping or eating patterns for longer than a few weeks, you may want to encourage them to see a counselor. William Jewell College’s free counseling services are a great tool for anyone to utilize. The following tips are all for helping a friend with typical stress, not a more serious mental health concern. 

When a friend is stressed out, it’s important to listen to them without adding your own stresses to the mix. Don’t tell them about the massive test you have tomorrow or how few hours of sleep you got last night. It’s not a competition. While you may think you’re helping them feel better about how they have it easier than you, in actuality it will just make them feel like you aren’t interested in listening to their problems. 

If your friend tells you about something difficult they’re dealing with, your first instinct might be to fix the problem. It’s natural to want to provide solutions to your friend, but these solutions might not be wanted. Before you give advice, ask your friend if they want help or if they’re in the mood to just vent. If they just want to vent, respect their request. If they want advice, feel free to bestow all of your abundant knowledge upon them. 

Sometimes, if a friend is stressed about school, what they really need is time to get homework done. If they seem to be in the middle of a big assignment or studying for a test, don’t interrupt them. Give them space. If your roommate seems stressed about school, be sure to be courteous and keep the noise to a minimum. 

When your friend is in a tough situation, doing small acts that show you care can make a big difference. Write them a note or pick up their favorite coffee order. If they are your roommate, make their bed for them one morning or clean the bathroom – but make sure they are okay with you touching their stuff first. Coming back to a clean environment can be a great stress reliever. 

The most important thing for helping stressed-out friends is making sure they know you care. If they have a big test on Wednesday morning, be sure to text them Wednesday afternoon to ask how it went. People like to know that their friends listen and remember details about their lives. Oftentimes, there’s nothing tangible that you can do to make someone else’s stress go away, but you can always make them feel loved and supported.

Second-hand stress affects many college students. It’s okay to take a breather if being around a stressed friend is too much for you to handle. Your friends should respect if you need some alone time. Our stress levels vary from day to day, and if you and a friend are overwhelmed at the same time, there is nothing wrong with spending a few days apart.

Everyone needs their person who they turn to when they’re stressed out, and it can get exhausting if you are that person for everyone. Make sure you also have people in your life who are there to listen to you. 

We all know how tough it can be to know how to best help a stressed friend. By knowing your limits, being a good listener and letting your friend know you’re there to help, you can improve your stress levels and the stress levels of the people around you. 

We all have bad days sometimes. Maybe you did poorly on a test, got a speeding ticket or slept through your alarm. Maybe nothing bad actually happened, but you just feel like you got nothing done. If you often feel like the day got away from you, here are some tips to seize the moment and be more efficient in every aspect of life. 

At the forefront of most college students’ minds is academic efficiency. While I personally think we as a society need to move away from viewing productivity as the only measurement of a person’s value, efficiently completing necessary tasks gives you more free time and less stress. I like to get most of my homework done during the week so I have my weekends available to relax and spend time with friends. 

To be more academically efficient, you need to have a plan. Every Sunday night I type out everything that needs to get done that week – what classes I have and anything I have scheduled on my calendar. I then type out when I will work on each assignment. Give yourself grace when you plan your week – leave an hour or two each day completely blank and try to put no assignments on Saturday or Sunday. This makes the week seem less overwhelming and also gives you some wiggle room for when unexpected tasks appear. 

Many people say they struggle with following a plan. If you can’t focus, eliminate any distractions. Put your phone on the other side of the room. Go someplace quiet, like the second floor of the Pryor Learning Commons. 

When I am really struggling to work, I have a few tactics to force myself to be productive. Sometimes changing locations will help me focus, or starting with a smaller, easier task before working on something I’m dreading makes the tasks less overwhelming. Procrastinating by completing an easier or more enjoyable assignment is my favorite way to be more efficient. 

If you don’t have a hard time focusing, but you just don’t know where to start, I think embracing technology can help. Hop on the Academic Achievement Center Moodle course and find a tutor. Email your professor if you have a question rather than letting confusion be the roadblock that stops you from starting an assignment. Put on your favorite Spotify playlist to motivate yourself.

I like to use Google Drive to make outlines for most of my assignments. Starting by getting your thoughts down without putting pressure on yourself can get the ball rolling. I write a lot of papers and one of the best study habits I’ve adopted is taking notes on a separate sheet of paper instead of directly in a book or on an article. This way, when I’m getting ready to write a paper I have all of the key quotations in a streamlined list that I can easily read and analyze. 

Using time efficiently is not just an academic concern but also a social concern. Too often people think that productivity and a social life contradict each other, but I think a social life can actually help you become more efficient. Make plans with friends whenever you have a big deadline coming up. This way, you’ll be motivated to get the assignment done earlier so you can still hang out with your friends. I am always the most efficient when I’m busy because I know I have to stay on top of school to make it all work. 

Typically, I think drawing strong boundaries between social time and productive time is important, but if you have a lot of school work on your plate, going to a coffee shop and studying with a friend can be a nice way to increase your efficiency. Go with your most productive friend – this way their focus and work ethic will rub off on you and you won’t be tempted to spend the whole time talking.

The point of our lives is not to solely exist as efficient academic machines. Becoming more efficient in our personal lives can help us be happier and healthier. I don’t own a planner, but instead just use my phone calendar, the Notes app and my Google Drive. I think that streamlining things as much as possible so I don’t have another notebook to keep track of makes me feel less overwhelmed. When I’m feeling tired or run down, taking a short nap or shower is a great way to quickly recharge instead of just scrolling on my phone. Make eating and sleeping top priorities – hungry, tired people are not efficient people. 

Keeping your space clean is also an important part of increasing efficiency. I like to make my bed while I brush my teeth or run my laundry while I’m getting ready in the morning. I typically avoid multitasking, but mindless cleaning tasks are a good way to get everything done quickly. 

Respect your time and make other people respect it too. Say no to anything you don’t want to do – even if it seems like a good opportunity. If your friends frequently bail out on plans or don’t respect your time, try to find people who will. You deserve to have people in your life who want to help you make the most of a day. 

The last way to make your life more efficient is by making your purchases more efficient. I keep a list of things I want to buy on my phone at all times and don’t allow myself to buy anything not on the list. This way, I only buy things I really want or need, which keeps my space less cluttered. 

Make versatile purchases. Buy clothing that you can wear in multiple seasons or with a variety of other pieces. Buy food that works well in a variety of dishes. Efficiency is all about doing more with less. Time is something we will always want more of. Hopefully, with these tips, time can be something you do more with.