Feeling Stressed?

Hey PASSers it's midterm time!!

Midterms can get pretty stressfull and a lot of people don't realize what stress can do to our bodies. Our mind and body have a connection. What is going on in our mind causes our body to respond. Some affects of stress on our body are:

-headaches, dizziness, upset stomach, breaking out in hives, body aches, sweating, heart palpitations, difficulty breathing, having a tight chest etc.
- being irritable, overly aggressive, forgetful, unable to make decisions
- having mental block, feeling depressed, having anxiety
THE LIST GOES ON!!!

so what are some ways you can deal with stress?

1. exercise
this helps release endorphins. go to the ARC. do yoga. take a quick walk.
2. Visualization
they say that when you visualize yourself in a peaceful place (kind of like meditating) your body becomes more relaxed. Close your eyes and picture yourself at a beach or anywhere peaceful and really think about the details of the place.
3. Breathing Retraining
Did you know that you breath incorrectly??? most of us do. When we are stressed/have anxiety we tend to have short quick breaths which come from the chest. THIS IS THE WRONG WAY TO BREATH!!! Put one hand on your chest and one hand on your stomach. As you breath make the hand on your stomach move while minimizing the movement of the hand on your chest. Taking deep breaths from your stomach relaxes your body because it tells your mind to calm down. It also helps increase blood circulation.
4. Eating
Eating all that nasty junkfood isnt going to help your stress. Try eating cooling foods like melons, or cucumbers. Also, proteins like nuts.

Also, if you ever need anyone to talk to about stress, your counselors are here for you AND you can also make an appointment at the counseling center which is located across from starbucks next to the career center. UCI students have 8 free sessions so use them!

Hope all this info helps & good luck on midterms :D

-Khrystyn

NEW MEETING ROOM tomorrow, SSL 145!

Yes, it's true, we have yet another meeting room for tomorrow's meeting. It will be held in SSL 145, same ol' time (Wednesday @ 6 PM). Sorry that we keep switching it up on you, but at least it's not at HOB II like last week! (BTW, thanks to those of you who made the long walk over there...)

Tomorrow's meeting is on studying abroad. Learn about how you can find a travel study program suitable for you and hear all about the overseas experiences of your fellow PASS members. Also, we will give you guys a preview of what to expect on our WINTER RETREAT in San Diego.

Don't forget that the CAREER FAIR is Thursday. Tomorrow would be a GREAT opportunity to talk to your counselor for any last minute questions you might have for them. Make the most of these Career Fairs, especially if you're a graduating senior! It's a fantastic opportunity to see what kind of jobs/internships are out there.

Well, that's all for now, hope to see you guys tomorrow!

-Steven

Courtyard Study Lounge

Hey PASSers!

Just wanted to let you all know that I work at Courtyard Study Lounge (it's that study place where you check out rooms in the Student Center). It's an awesome place to study, especially during finals week.

Here are the hours!
MON-FRI 7:30AM-11PM
SAT 10AM-11PM
SUN 12AM-11PM

The best way to get a room is to call and make a reservation at (949)824-0651. You can make a reservation up to 2 weeks in advance, and to extend your time, just have a friend reserve the time right after yours and so on.

If those hours are just not cutting it for you, remember that Gateway across from Langson is open until 3AM on most days, and Engineering Gateway is 24 hours!

GOOD LUCK ON MIDTERMS!!!

Leah

hello everyone

This is Juvy, one of PASS's 2008-2009 counselors! I just wanted to say hello and I hope everyone is doing well in school as we jump into the 4th week. Whooo~! Also, good luck with upcoming midterms and study well! Just a friendly reminder, the counselors are here for you-- whether it's to talk about school/grades/classes or just to hang out. Just holla at us! :]

I'd like to share this letter written in PARADE 01/18/09
"What I Want for You-- And Every Child in America" by President Barack Obama

Click the title... since the article is pretty long and I don't want it to cover most of this blog's space. :] Comment about what you think about it. I know some of you PASSers have read it and influenced me to read it, so I shall pass it on to the rest of you. It's quite touching. :]

<3 arrividerci,
Juvy

New Year Resolutions...

hey guys!!

now that January is coming to an end, i thought it'd be interesting to see how everyone has been doing with keeping up with their resolutions! :)

My resolutions were:

1. staying on track with school assignments/readings
2. losing weight!!
3. just being a better person than the person i was yesterday, everyday
4. Pay off my credit cards!!!

1. staying on track with school assignments/readings
ok. so i must admit i haven't been on top of things lately. I noticed that I have so much time to study, but I just push things aside for "later" because I have all the time in the world and before i know it, that time manages to disappear. So I came up with a solution that i hope to put into practice this week especially with midterms coming up soon. I figured that if i were to dedicate at least three nights to hardcore studying, it would be more productive than "studying" everyday with facebook breaks, ice cream breaks, and all other types of breaks in between. And it IS realistic because i NEVER touch my books on the weekend since I miss my doggie too much and I just miss being home, so I just spend time with my family during weekends. And Thursday after class I always catch up with the shows i missed during the week then go out after... Fridays are when i drive home right after class. Therefore, it would benefit me to study productively on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights or before class since my classes start late... Hopefully, this technique will help me out this week and next week for midterms!!!

2. Losing weight...
Although I haven't been going to the gym since school started, I've been a good girl when it came to dealing with my weight. I was able to maintain being 100 lbs the first two weeks. However... I ate way TOO much this weekend :( Right when I got home, I had yummy home-cooked food waiting for me so I ate more than what I should have eaten. I then had to go to a family party on Sunday... There was sooo much yummy filipino food.. I couldn't resist!! So now my stomach is a little too happy and my pants are a little bit angry.. Tomorrow I have to break the habit of overindulging and going back to the habit of only eating what satisfies my hunger. I guess going to the gym doesn't matter because walking to school is a workout on its own.


3. just being a better person than the person i was yesterday, everyday
I can definitely say that I have been succeeding in this resolution. :) I've learned to step out of being "too nice" to the point that people would walk all over me, but I have also learned to voice my concerns in a reasonable and mature manner-- and still being able to maintain the respect I deserve. I have also been able to put into practice the things I've learned in my Ethics in Education class last quarter. I've learned to make ethical decisions correctly rather than acting on things simply because "i feel bad" for an individual. Being optimistic about things and not focusing too much on the negative also helps with this goal!!


4. Pay off my credit cards!!!
There's no other way to do this than hide your credit cards, so that is exactly what i did. As for paying them off, i'd use half my paycheck to pay off my bills, then put the other half in my savings account rather than my checking account. That way, i won't be tempted to continue spending when I know I have credit cards to pay off.



With that said, I hope everyone is doing great with keeping up with their resolutions. If not, it's not too late to start! AND it's TOO EARLY to give up on them as well!!!

Good luck to everyone with midterms coming up!!! :)

<3 june

Career Week at UCI

Hi PASSers!

Are you a first year that needs help writing a resume? Are you a second year looking to find that perfect internship? Are you a junior unsure of how to approach a recruiter at the Career Fair? Are you a graduating senior in search of a job post-graduation? Are you worried or stressed about your career plans and need a little guidance?

If you said yes to any of those questions, don't worry because not only do your PASS counselors got you, the Career Center's got you too!

This week is none other than... CAREER WEEK!

and what does that mean for you? It's a week filled with different workshops leading up to the Internship and Career Fair taking place this Thursday, JANUARY 29th!!!

Here's the schedule, if you're interested! It's never to late or too early to start looking for a job or start networking for that matter. As we learned this past week at PASS, getting that dream job is not just about WHAT you know, it's also a lot about WHO you know. so get to it PASSers!

CAREER WEEK 2009:
January 26th :

• Dress for Success @ 11am
• Interview Techniques @ 1pm
• Career Fair Success: Standing Out From the Crowd @ 3pm

January 27th:

• Career Fair Success: Standing Out From the Crowd @ 11am
• The Resume Writing Workshop @ 2pm
• Technical Interviewing @ 3:30pm

January 28th:

• Interview Techniques @ 11am
• Last Minute Tips for the Career Fair @ 2pm

January 29th:
INTERNSHIP & CAREER FAIR 10-3pm!!!!!!!!!
click HERE to view the list of employers coming to the fair.

January 30th:

• Post Career Fair Tips: What's Next? @ 11am
• Introduction to On-Campus Interviews @ 1pm
• Networking for those who hate networking @ 3pm

SIDENOTE: MOST OF THESE WORKSHOPS ARE LED BY THE EMPLOYERS THEMSELVES SO THIS GIVES YOU THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO NETWORK WITH THESE COMPANIES!!!!!!!! TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT!

Okay that's all I've got for you tonight! Hope to see you this week at the meeting AND at the Career Center! :)

PASS Counselor, Anna

Money, it's a gas...

Curious how UCI students stack up in their post-graduation starting salaries in comparison to other universities statewide? I found these statistics from The Wall Street Journal:

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-Salaries_for_Colleges_by_Region-sort.html

According to the site, the average median starting salary of a UCI grad is about $48k. That ranks 5th among UCs, behind Berkeley, UCLA, Davis, UCSD, and UCSB.

And if you're interested in seeing average salaries by major:

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-Degrees_that_Pay_you_Back-sort.html

Not surprisingly, medical and engineering-related majors top the list, and the highest listed social science major is Economics with a median starting salary of about $50k.

By sharing these numbers with you, I don't mean to discourage you or encourage you towards any major. Instead, I just wanted to give you guys an idea of what kind of salaries you can expect post-graduation. I know it's a REALLY tough job market out there, but with perseverance and a good knowledge of where to look, I'm sure you guys will have success in obtaining a job/internship!

Of course, if you have ANY questions at all about the job search/internship process, contact your counselors OR send an email to us at pass.counseling@gmail.com

-Steven

Want to Help Save the World? Want to Live Longer in the Process? Don't Know Where To Start?

Hello PASSers!

What helps end global starvation, protects you from deadly diseases, prevent global warming, aids in ending world-wide suffering, preserves depleting natural resources, counteracts pollution, helps you maintain a healthy diet AND makes you live longer? Stumped? It’s called Vegetarianism. I don’t want to sound like a hippie-tree-hugging-health-freak, but Vegetarianism really does counteract an astounding amount of our health and environmental concerns.

Random Interesting Facts:

It requires 10 times as many crops to feed animals being bred for meat production as it would to feed the same number of people on a vegetarian diet.

Additionally, animals raised for food in the U.S. consume 90 percent of the soy crop, 80 percent of the corn crop, and a total of 70 percent of its grain.

If all the grain currently fed to livestock in the United States were consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million.

Animal agriculture has been pointed out as one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases – responsible for 18 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO₂ equivalents.

If you would like to learn more, please visit these sites for more information =].

http://www.goveg.com/vegetarian101.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarian

<3 Leah Acosta

Fun Fast Food Facts

Do you ever wonder about the nutritional value of the meals you eat? No? Well YOU SHOULD! Keeping track of simple things like calories, carbs, sodium, etc. will greatly benefit you when deciding what to eat and what to pass up.

But if you're like me, you tend to ignore all of those concerns and stick to fast food anyway. Well now you can keep track of the nutritional value of your fast food meals using this handy guide: http://www.acaloriecounter.com/fast-food.php

Like the site says, if you're going to keep eating fast food (and I will), you might as well know what items are better than others. Hope this helps!

-Steven

New meeting location!!!!

Hey PASSers, hope you're having a good week.

First of all, I want to thank everyone who came out to last week's Counselor-run meeting on Interviews. I got a lot of good feedback, but we'd love to hear more about how we can help you guys or how we can improve so feel free to ask me or your counselors if you need any help!

Secondly, please note that our meeting room has CHANGED! Meetings are at the same time, 6 PM Wednesdays, but at HOB II 128. HOB II is kind of tucked away in the back of the Humanities area, so please be aware. If you were around last year, it's the same building that Winter Quarter meetings last year were held.

Hope we see you later tonight...the topic is REALLY interesting. It's a professional panel consisting of business professionals from various fields. It's a good chance to discover what type of careers are out there and a GREAT chance to network!

-Steven

How are your New Years Resolutions coming along?

Hi guys,

With a new year comes new resolutions that we tend to forget or stray from. Sticking to those resolutions can be tough, but you can make it easier on yourself by breaking up your resolution into measurable and realistic goals.

For example, my big new years resolution was to get into shape which can be a very vague goal. In order to develop it into a realistic and measurable routine, I decided that this meant that I would run a mile at least three times a week and go to the ARC twice a week. So far, I've been pretty good about keeping on track with my running goals, but sadly I've yet to go to the ARC this quarter!

Speaking of getting into shape, I found this great article on Yahoo! Health on Instant Ab Flatteners! Check it out here: http://health.yahoo.com/experts/healthieryou/5882/instant-ab-flatteners/

I tried working these into my routine last week, but I'm having trouble. I tried to do a few reps of the Pike 90 and gave up after like five. That's ok, that just means there's more room for progress!

-Steven

Welcome to the official PASS Counseling blog!

Hey PASSers,

Hope your Winter Quarter is getting off to a good start!

I am Steven Katigbak, your 2008-09 PASS Counseling Director. The purpose of this blog is for counselors to share information that they feel would benefit their counselees and all general members of PASS. This can be anything from information related to classes, resources to help get jobs, tips on improving your health, and anything else that might be relevant to us as students!

Please feel free to leave comments to let us know how we're doing! Thanks for reading this!

-Steven