With the resurgence of Open Campus Days, I see a lot of people either hating them, loving them, or having no clue what they are doing until they finally realize they have an hour left to work. Those students then panic for 15 minutes trying to figure out how to begin their work. This process of not understanding where to start and/or waiting till the last second can be avoided if some simple criteria are followed. I understand that the point of Open Campus Day is for students to work on time management and have a little more “freedom,” but some students ask how are we supposed to pass our classes and have good time management if we don’t talk about these skills, learn about them, or even have a clue as to what is happening until 10 a.m. with assignments being due by 2:26 when we leave? The answer is simple, really: we need to help each other out.

The first step is to try and figure out what your assignments are ahead of time. Now I know this one is a stretch, but some teachers will inform students of the type of assignments they may receive for the next Open Campus Day in advance. This allows you to figure out how much of a priority it truly is. For example if a teacher tells you you have Membean due and another one tells you you have a 2 page packet to complete, you already can start planning and prioritizing the assignments you have to complete.

Next, the best thing to do when you first get to school or when you wake up is to review your assignments and to create a plan to make sure you can finish your work by the due dates. If you know an assignment may take longer than others, plan to do that one first and give yourself the most time to do the assignment. Not everyone takes the same amount of time to complete assignments, so if you try and plan with friends, they may finish before or after you. If you plan to work on the same assignments at the same time, plan on actually working together rather than splitting up the work. Also, in some very rare cases, teachers will allow you to do work until midnight. When this happens, take advantage of that deadline and plan to either finish that assignment beforehand and have it ready to submit in order to avoid stress or hold off on that assignment due at midnight until you finish the ones due by the end of the school day.

Lastly, take your time and relax. Open Campus Day is a small part of your overall school year. You may be stressed to get all your work done and think that you may not be able to finish it all, but you just need to relax, work with friends, be positive, and work hard. It may seem overwhelming, but Open Campus Day really shouldn’t be.