What to Do During a University Strike: 5 Productive Things for Students

It is always devastating to just report for the academic semester after a long holiday and immediately a month or two in a strike happens. Just being in the university or college takes a lot or resources from families and even communities. It is always a proud moment when a son or a daughter of a community gets the qualifications to join an institution of higher learning. He/she becomes a symbol of hope and that gives him/her a higher responsibility. In some communities they go a step more to ensure their son/daughter will be able to join Campus these makes them even sacrifice their resources, sell a piece of their land, cows and many others with a believe one day their sons/daughters will come back and help the community.

Now when learning is disrupted and there are uncertainties on when it may resume, it takes a toll the mental stability not only on the comrade but also on the parents. Dreams seem delayed and the future gets pushed far away. I have personally experiences some of my peers dropping out during this moments. Is there a way to always turn a difficult moment into out advantage? Yes there is

Volunteer
With the current Gen-Z era, it is normal to hear them say they cannot work for free. Of course that’s a valid argument no one ever wants to feel he or she is a slave to anyone and yet working without pay is like giving yourself freely to serve a master who benefits from your sweat while you do not. Volunteer has unseen rewards that you may never get the opportunity to get. Been in a working setup gives you time hands on experience if you get an opportunity in a work that is directly in your field of study. If not in you field of study then it will give you an upper hand in understanding the working environment and work politics. These experiences will build you to understand how the real world works and not just how the books have taught you. Another benefit for volunteering it helps in building your future portfolio, this is something you may not realize now but when the moment comes for you to apply for a job you will have good referees and also it puts you above the cut of your peers since you will have gained work experience not only in your area of study but also in other areas such as people skills, client relation skills and many others. So volunteering pays indirectly I encourage all in learning institutions to look for an opportunity whenever there is an academic break either planned or unplanned.

Enroll for Extra Course
As the say goes one is never enough and yes we are currently living in very competitive world and when we graduate the job market cannot accommodate all of us, to ensure you are among the best is to ensure you don’t just graduate from all that you learned in class. Going an extra mile to learn something else may give an advantage. Most of the learning curriculums in the learning institutions are rarely updated or reviewed to meet the new developments, evolution or current trends. Going an extra mile to learn something that is relatable to current trends might give you an advantage. A practicle example in before we used to just know Miscrosoft word is the only tool for developing documents and most of the systems are stack there but currently there more advanced platforms such as google workspace that allows collaboration of many teams and that has shaped on how we choose to do and share files. Technology has advanced in most areas but the books in campus have not. The good news is there are many platforms that are free of affordable for learning such as Alison.com, coursera, AQSkills and many others. Use that time to make it count

Venture Into Small Business
I know this is a risky area since it might divert some from the studies as most parents would advise. But this is my take financial discipline is important for everyone and sometimes we just have to learn it first-hand. Most of us comrades the only resource we know of are those of our parents and sometimes it makes us misuse them when given because we never understand what our parents went through to ensure we have a meal on the table. Engaging in a small business sometimes opens our mind in understanding the dynamics or running a business, what it takes to just make a sell of one product in a day may make us understand to never take any money we are given for granted. Also If we are lucky enough the business may be a start of something big, if we get you here most of the big companies founders testimonies they will tell you that ideas get planted during a storm or pandemic. Yes that small idea might be the one that gets you the level you were aiming. The advantage is that technology has made it simple on how we can do business, there are business that are skill based i.e computer related skills, graphics designing and also drop shipping whereone doesn’t have to own a physical shop to tell. One thing I encourage though is that if the business grows let it not drive you away from your studies that’s now will measure your discipline. A cautious on this is that only engage in legal business and do not put money as the key factor of one doing business, do business because you see a gap and you are turning it into an opportunity and also because you building your experience also start small and let the idea grow.

Participate in Community and Social Events
I am yet to understand why the current generation have so much shied away from community and social events and prefer just online socializing. They might only attend one party just to get a photo or video for stories feeds and that’s it. And if they happen to attend an event they are there physically but their other forms (emotional, intellectually e.t.c) are not part of the event. Good social events have a part in our development, it gives us a moment to laugh, interact and just be there for each other. This can be helpful in relieving stress especially if there are uncertainties about the future due to learning disruptions, take a break be where people are. Also this events are places of networking. Best networking is not on the boardrooms but rather where people gather in good spirit. So go out and make it count, One of my lecturer used to tell us your network is your net worth, so ensure get many meaningful networks now, and indeed is ee that now. Get to those community youth groups where they are building a course on climate change, get to that church youth forum and participate fully that way at the end of it there are blessings and meaningful connections and many other places you can join.

Those are my for key areas of course there are other productive ways, bottom line is ensure when the world stops you don’t stop with it continue the journey don’t let the disruptions give you misery, just ensure you are moving forward it doesn’t matter how slow. When things resume you won’t feel you have lost much since you have been building on someting What to Do During a University Strike: 5 Productive Things for Students