Must read advice from our very own Sean Ries!!!

Just in time for the new semester, Sean Ries, Associate Director Campus Recreation, contributed
must-read advice for how to have a successful career as a student. The sooner Sean’s advice
is put into practice, the easier the transition from student to professional will be. Moreover,
timeless and proven advice is useful for graduate students as well as under graduate students.
Please, read on and learn!

Tips for preparing to Graduate:
1) Do as many internships as you can: One problem a lot of graduating student have is
what do I do when I graduate? So, my advice is making sure you do as many internships
as possible. Make sure you do different internships within your major. (Examples: Sport
Management: Professional, High School, and College Athletics, YMCA, City Recreation
and Campus Recreation) I did 4 internships throughout my college experience before
I found Campus Recreation. I was able to work at the professional level, high school
level and finally at the college level. The tough part of this is all internships that I did
were unpaid. You have to understand, that is going to be the norm for most internships.
The biggest thing I learn from doing my internships was what direction within my major
I wanted to go. I always thought that I wanted to work in professional sports, but my
internship with the Cavaliers showed me that I was wrong. Internships are value tools to
help you find your CAREER not just a JOB!!

2) Keep a schedule over break: I have found that if you can still keep somewhat of a
schedule over break of when you sleep and eat it will make the transition back to school
easier. You hear all the time people saying I so tired or I just can’t get motivated and a lot
of this has to do with you being on that BREAK schedule. If you stay up late all the time
over break and eat 10 meals a day you will have an adapting time when you get back to
school. KEEP A SCHEDULE that matches your school schedule so you are ready for the
Spring Semester!!

3) Practice public speaking as much as possible: The number 1 fear in the world is ……
public speaking. I feel if you can get past this fear you will be much more successful
in everyday life. Public speaking will help you with interviewing, presentations and
everyday interaction with others. We all understand it is hard to get up and talk in front
of people because we are afraid of making a mistake and embarrassing ourselves, but if
you are well prepared and polished public speaking will come naturally. I cannot tell you
how many times I have seen a very outgoing student get in front of a class and freeze!! If
you can become a successful public speaker you will open many more doors for yourself.
Public Speaking is the key thing in my mind that will make you a successful professional.
Goal: Ask to present at conferences or in front of your class as much as possible. Go to
your local theater and see if you can get into a play. Ask your friends if you could read
your paper or project to them in a classroom setting. These are a couple of thoughts that I
have done to strengthen my public speaking abilities.

4) Learn to write properly: English 101 is unfortunately something some college freshmen
have to take because they didn’t come to college prepared to write. College is at least
50% about writing and our country is falling behind in writing skills. I have graded
countless papers at the college level at 2 different universities and they are not at the

level they should be. Now, don’t get me wrong not everyone is writing badly in college,
but I would say at least 70% of college students struggle to write papers. You need to
make sure you write a rough draft and have someone proof your work and then go back
and rewrite the paper. The key areas we all need to work on in writing is the flow of the
paper, the grammar in the paper and making sure you don’t write the way you TALK!!
Goal: start a blog and practice writing on it. Take all your papers to at least 3 people to
review. Go to a writing lab to assist you. Practice, Practice, Practice!!

These are 4 of my main thoughts when it comes to your college career. I hope they help you
a little and you can take something away with my thoughts! Thanks for reading and GOOD
LUCK!!

Sean

**Thanks Sean, what a wise old owl we have here :)