How to Wind-Down After a Stressful Week

By: Julia Clancy

With fall finally here, there are plenty of fall activities that can help you wind down. It’s a stressful time, but there are plenty of fun and safe activities to partake in. This fall will be entirely what we make of it, due to not being able to have a completely normal fall. It’s so important to take care of ourselves during this time, and finding small ways to wind down, relax a bit, and have fun are great ways to do so! 

Here are a few of my favorites:

  1. I’ve found that by the end of a stressful week of at home classes, I am itching to get out of the house. What I’ve been doing is going for a long walk or hike with my roommates. It helps us get into a new scenery, as well as get some exercise. Whether it’s a walk around the neighborhood or going to a hiking trail, it’s a great way to wind down. My roommates and I have been trying to go on walks to different places every time (while bringing our masks of course!), just for some variety.

  2. After a long day of classes, sometimes it’s nice to just sit down on the couch and relax. My roommates and I have started to add movies to our Netflix list, and have been having movie nights. Especially for fall, there are great Halloween movies that are finally in season! It’s nice to just hang out and chill after working hard for the day, and movie nights are perfect for that!

  3. While watching movies is a great way to relax, watching movies all day isn’t the most productive day. There are plenty of great book lists online that I have been choosing from. I have been reading a lot of historical fiction and mystery books lately. Just search up your favorite genre and get started! Reading can keep you super busy, and it’s fun as well.

  4. Making learning to bake a goal became a huge thing during quarantine. I definitely got into baking, and have been trying to improve my skills since then. I love pumpkin flavored things, so I’ve been trying to work on making pumpkin bread for the fall season! I’ve been finding different recipes on Pinterest and trying to perfect them. It definitely has been helping me wind down after a stressful week.

Winding down is totally customizable to everyone. Fall is full of safe activities that you can do inside or outside. Get creative and inspired!

Women in Politics Tomorrow Night

Good evening everyone,

Join us tomorrow night, Monday, October 5 at 7pm EST for a meeting hosted by our Treasurer Madi Green on "Women in Politics." Madi will discuss some important themes including the gender gap in politics and the double blind dilemma.

Zoom link: https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/96774914644
Meeting ID: 967 7491 4644

Reminder: Community Service Committee meeting on Wednesday, October 7 at 7pm 
 

Peer Mentor Program Show & Tell Icebreaker

The first event of the peer mentor program will be on Tuesday, October 6 at 7pm EST. The Zoom link was sent to mentors and mentees by our Peer Mentor Program Director Kelly Davis. Email Kelly (kndavis@umass.edu) with any questions. 
 

Additional Opportunities:

Sharing Alumni Advice (SAA) 
The Student Alumni Association invites students to join their Wednesday advice series. On October 14 at 7pm EST, they will talk about careers in sports, entertainment, and media. Here is the Zoom link: https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/s/97105363087.

ProjectConnect
This program aims to connect UMass students virtually to form friendships and talk about mental health during remote study. There will be 5 sessions consisting of small groups meeting for an hour via Zoom. If you have questions, email Dani Reardon at dcreardon@umass.edu. Click here to sign up. 

Liberty Mutual Diversity Symposium
If you are interested in attending the Liberty Mutual Student Diversity Symposium on October 15 & 16, click here for more information. Apply by Wednesday, 10/7.

Dell Technologies "Changing the Face of Tech"
This event will be on October 8, from 4pm - 6pm. Click here for more information about the event and how to register.

How to Create Your Ideal Workspace

By: Katie Ellsworth

For about 6 months now, we’ve all been working, socializing, and doing just about everything we can remotely. We spend so much time at our at-home workspaces staring at that same blank wall for hours on end. I found that looking up from my work just to see my bedroom wall isn’t the most invigorating experience. This caused me to dedicate some time to redoing my space in order to help make my long, unenthusiastic days into something a little more exciting. Here are some tips in transforming your at-home set-up into your ideal workspace:

1. The Main Focal Point

I’ve found that having something fun and colorful to look at rather than just a dull, boring wall can help rejuvenate you during the middle of a particularly rough day. This can range from a movie poster to a collage of you and your loved ones. I decided to utilize what painfully few DIY skills I have and create a vision board for my ideal future life. If I’m drowning in schoolwork, I can look at my vision board and tell myself that that is what I’m working toward, and it may be challenging now, but it’ll all be worth it in the end. Make your main focal point something that has this same effect on you. It’ll work wonders on raising your motivation level and help make the hours of work you have feel rewarding.

2. Natural Light

Though I’m definitely guilty of staring outside and completely zoning out when I should be writing an essay, I still think having your workspace situated by a window is super important for your mood. Personally, I’m always happiest when it’s sunny, so having sunlight stream onto me through my window as I annotate 40+ page readings doesn’t only brighten my room, but my mood, as well. In fact, exposure to sunlight is thought to increase the brain’s release of serotonin, a hormone that boosts your mood, meaning you should totally sit in the sun for a bit if you’re not feeling too great. If you’re not able to have your workspace near a window to receive that sweet sunlight serotonin, take a walk outside when it’s sunny or sit on your lawn to let the sun’s rays hit you to give you the same feeling of calmness.

3. Make it Yours!

A huge aspect of making your ideal workspace actually yours is adding a bit of your own personal touch to it, whatever that may mean to you. Are you someone who’s a big fan of planning and organizing? Then get some cute pen/pencil holders (maybe even paint or decorate them if you’re a DIY kind of person) to display all of your writing tools. Are you a big music lover? Perhaps writing a list of your top songs for studying, de-stressing, jamming out to when you’re taking a break, and displaying it where you can easily glance at it would be up your alley! Adding these seemingly small personal touches to your workspace, truly make it yours, and will help you actually enjoy your time spent there, because it’s more fitting to your style and interests.

Of course there are many more ways you could renovate your workspace to make it perfect, these are just a few simple tips that have worked really well for me. It’s an extreme challenge to spend your time working and your time relaxing in virtually the same space. Not only does it cause you to blend your work and rest areas, it absolutely gets mind-numbing to be in the same area every day. Once I spent some time redecorating my at-home workspace to make it ideal for me, I started to look forward to spending my time there everyday. I began feeling more professional in a way, since I started treating that area as my “private office” of sorts. I can almost guarantee that following at least one of the tips I mentioned above will help you feel a bit better about being stuck at a desk for such prolonged periods of time. I truly believe in taking care of ourselves, mentally and physically, and redoing your at-home workspace so that it’s perfectly ideal for you is an amazing form of self care since it’ll affect you every single day. So have some fun with redoing your workspace, and make sure to take care of yourself!

Women in Politics Next Meeting 10/5

Hi everyone,

We want to give a huge thank you to Haley for the WiB x CHAARG virtual workout and to everyone who participated last night. Our next meeting on Monday, October 5 at 7pm EST will be "Women in Politics" run by our Treasurer, Madi Green! Learn about the gender gap in politics and the double blind dilemma.

Zoom link: https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/96774914644
Meeting ID: 967 7491 4644

Upcoming:

  • Marketing Committee meeting tonight at 6:30pm

  • First Peer Mentorship Program event - Tuesday, 10/6 at 7pm

  • Community Service Committee meeting - Wednesday, 10/7 at 7pm 

TJX Internship Program

TJX Recruiter Laurie Lynch invites you to learn more about the TJX Internship Program and to reach out with any questions you may have: laurie_lynch@tjx.com.
 

Ashley Olafsen - Workshop TONIGHT and internship opportunity

The Social Entrepreneurship Club is having a workshop tonight with Ashley Olafsen at 7pm about "Turning passion into profit." Ashley also invites you to apply for the Teranga marketing internship.

Zoom link: https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/99222101812
Meeting ID: 992 2210 1812
 

Women of Isenberg Virtual Speaker Series 

Sign up for the WoI Newsletter Email List and check out their first newsletter here. They are still accepting applications for Student Ambassadors through October 7.

Job Description: click here
Application: https://forms.gle/hWMHxU9c9cPJKP1x6
 

Additional Opportunities

UMass PR Club
Learn more about the UMass Public Relations Club and consider attending their first event on Tuesday, October 6th at 5:00pm EST. If you are interested, email WiB member Aisling Gigandet: agigandet@umass.edu.

Eaton Vance Diversity Event
On Friday, October 2 from 2 - 4pm, Eaton Vance is hosting an Undergraduate Diversity & Women’s Insights Day. Learn about internships and entry-level programs. Register here.

TJX: A Day in the Life of Merchandising with Laurie Lynch

TJX Companies is the leading off-price apparel and home fashions retailer in the United States and worldwide. In 2020, they were ranked number 80 in the Fortune 500 company listings. We were very grateful to have recruiter, Laurie Lynch to come talk to us about some of the internship opportuntiies TJX has to offer, as well as perspectives from UMass Alumna and WiB Alumni, Isabelle Berton and Jenna Woeller.

TJX offers the following internship opportunities:

  • Merchandising: Planning and Allocation, Buying

  • Finance and Accounting

  • Information Technology

  • Distribution Operations

All of the internships are paid summer programs that include:

  • Classroom and on-the-job training

  • Placement in specific category/area

  • Informative workshops + networking

  • Interaction with all levels of management

  • Ongoing feedback + development

TJX hires through IsenbergWorks and Handshake for the upcoming 2021 season. For more information on the internships and application process visit the UMass TJX handout to learn more about the company! Thank you Laurie, Isabelle, and Jenna for the amazing presentation and advice!

Laurie Lynch’s email: laurie_lynch@tjx.com