Tag Archives: wellness

Student Emergency Grant

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The Student Emergency Grant program at Northern Virginia Community College operates to provide one-time financial support to students experiencing an enrollment-threatening financial emergency. Emergency funds are not intended to pay for routine education expenses and are only allocated for sudden, unexpected, or unforeseen occurrences that require immediate attention and would otherwise impact a student’s ability to remain enrolled at NOVA. Funds are not available for tuition, fees, or books. The maximum award is $500 per student.

If a student needs financial assistance paying for tuition or books, your Financial Aid Advisor can provide you with assistance in applying for the NOVA Book and Access Grant and others.

More information is provided for students on NOVA’s website.

Questions about your Financial Aid award? Contact them by phone, live chat, or email through the Student Support Center.

FA Support Center

 

Where does the time go?

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Do you know where your time goes? It seems that the older you get, the more responsibilities are put on you. Take this brief quiz via Virginia Tech’s website to determine just how much time you have to dedicate to your studies.

If the time left over is not equivalent to at least twice the number of credits you are enrolled in, you do not have enough time allotted for your studies. But, there are things you can do; such as reducing the time spent on some activities/responsibilities, adjusting your work hours, or adjusting the number of credits you take in a semester.stepbros

When one can’t reduce their time on activities or responsibilities or work; that leaves the number of credits one should take in a semester. Many students I talk with want to be able to do it all – work full-time, go to college full-time, take care of their family, etc.

Course load is often the only factor that can be manipulated; but students do not want to delay their educational goals. This is certainly admirable; but, if one does not have enough time to complete their course work accurately and on-time, and study effectively for exams; one’s grades will suffer and it can take longer to reach your goals.

I encourage you to take the quiz to see where your time goes and ask yourself: confused man holding question markDo you have enough time in the week to dedicate to your studies?

Are you using the time efficiently?

Do you find you do not have enough time?

What can you reduce or eliminate from your schedule to make more time?

Watch the Time Management: Strategies for Success video by StudentLingo to obtain some great tips on managing your time effectively!

-Written by NOVA Online Counselor, Kim Burkle

Take advantage of Advising Week events on campus or virtually as you plan your schedule and register for courses. Reach out to the Student Services offices or Virtual Advisors with any questions you have as you are planning your courses.

De-stress as you move into Advising Week

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Winding down from one semester, and planning for your next can be a significant adjustment. With the demand of approaching deadlines, it is easy to get overwhelmed in the blink of an eye. As you move into Advising Week, we want to provide you with some resources to help you unwind, and refocus on preparing for your next step.

Yoga has more benefits than I can list but the ones I want you to take advantage of right now is it’s capacity to reduce anxiety and stress. Taking time to stretch and twist the body, releases chemicals that our bodies naturally produce when stressed. Beyond the physical movements, yoga has a meditative component that ignites your inner strength in a way that will empower you to tackle any obstacle, help you maintain peace when feeling harried, and turn down the volume of the loud voice of self-doubt. iStock_000052315416_LargeIncorporating yoga into your daily practice has been made easy with the use of technology. Here are some free apps you can download today that can jump-start your yoga practice! There is no greater obstacle to overcome than your own mind, feed it with positivity and it will help you accomplish great things! Namaste.

YogaQuote: Gives you daily inspirational yoga quotes and mantras.

Daily Yoga: Gives you live training with  videos and a professionally made yoga program for you to follow without needing to go to a gym. This app even has yoga to help you de-stress at your desk (great to do right before writing a paper)!

As you move into Advising Week, continue to follow ELife for tips on:

  • Familiarizing yourself with resources to help you with your academic planning.
  • Focusing on your career planning.
  • Checking to make sure you are on the right path to achieve your goals.
  • Gaining skills outside the classroom.
  • Taking some time for reflection.

This post was written by NOVA Online Success Coach, Jennifer. Have a question, but not sure who to ask? Start with a Success Coach! They can be reached at elisuccess@nvcc.edu or call 703.323.3347.

Take advantage of Advising Week events on campus or virtually as you plan your schedule and register for courses. Reach out to the Student Services offices or Virtual Advisors with any questions you have as you are planning your courses.

Summer Wellness Series: Wrap Up

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Live healthyWe made it! Within the past few months of our Summer Wellness Series we covered many different ways that each of us as individuals can reflect on our overall personal wellness in several areas including: Physical, Intellectual, Social, Financial , Spiritual/Emotional  and Environmental.

So now what? How can you move forward with all of this knowledge you have gained? Create some personal goals!

Here are some reflection to help you do this:

Reflect on your own level of personal wellness. Hopefully you were able to do this as we walked through the series but take some time to think about:

  • How do you integrate personal wellness into your life?
  • What challenges or personal obstacles are you faced with everyday along with being a college student?
  • How can your surroundings influence your health in a positive or negative way?
  • How will choices you make today impact your future? Keep in mind that your social and mental/emotional health is just as important as your physical health.

Now, use some the this reflection to develop personal goals:

  • Create some long-term goals that you want to achieve over the next year or more.  (Example: Remove meat from my diet).
  • Break these down into smaller tasks that can become more manageable targets you can hit in the short term.   (Example: Plan to remove meat from my diet one day a week for a month). 
  • Develop a way that works for you to be accountable (Example: Use food tracker to record progress).

We hope that this will help you jump start you health and wellness goal-setting!

Thank you to all who have participated. Feel free to continue connecting and sharing information on our Virtual Student Union.

Summer Wellness Series: Environmental Wellness

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environmental wellness picThe last week of our summer wellness series focuses on environmental wellness.  This involves taking care of your personal surroundings. Actively working to serve your environments can improve your health and the health of the people around you.

There are many things that you can do to reflect on how you are being mindful of your impact on the environment. Here are some things to consider:

Do you recycle? Why or why not? How do you recycle?

Do you attempt to converse energy? How do you conserve energy?

Do you think the government is doing enough to protect our environment?

How can we reduce our carbon footprint?

Why is preserving the wilderness important?

We will use this week to address some of these issues on a global level but also help you consider how you can play a role in your personal life to help preserve this beautiful planet we live on!

To start some reflection, below is a graphic that lists 10 reasons to drink tap water that we got from the Fairfax Water Newsletter. It shows how much is wasted in the creation of bottled water.

environmental_wellness_Would having this knowledge about the waste bottled water creates, change the way their drink water?

Visit our Virtual Student Union to share your thoughts and continue the conversation!

Summer Wellness Series: Emotional and Spiritual Wellness

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i like this quoteThis week we focus on spiritual and emotional wellness.  College is stressful and students can often feel overwhelmed.  Maintaining a healthy emotional and spiritual life is important to overall health.  This can include managing your stress level, staying on top of school work and knowing when to ask for help.  Exploring spirituality can include a religious faith community, meditation, being in the outdoors, and taking time for reflection.

The following are some things you can do to focus on your emotional and spiritual wellness:

  • Check out the Motivational Minute: Yoga Your Worries Away and Managing the Demands of School through Mediation blog posts.
  • Take time to review the NOVACares From this website you can connect to ULifeline, an anonymous, confidential, online resource center, where college students can be comfortable searching for information they need regarding emotional health.  Learn about some signs and symptoms when a friend may need help dealing with emotional issues or a mental health problem in the Emotional Health section.   Find resources about sleep, exercise, nutrition, stress management and relaxation, as well as connectedness and healthy relationships in the Wellness section.
  • Need more ideas? Check out other articles that are part of the NOVA Online Summer Wellness Series.

Continue this conversation with us in our Virtual Student Union. Connect with peers on this topic and learn more about resources to maintain your emotional and spiritual wellness!

Summer Wellness Series: Financial Wellness

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money jarThis week’s topic for the Summer Wellness Series is Financial Wellness. Through financial wellness, you can learn to live within your financial means, plan for future financial health, learn to think short and long-term in order to manage your resources is essential for a healthy financial experience including learning to be a good consumer.

Here are some resources to help you improve or maintain  your financial wellness:

Mint.com is a free app that helps you organize and balance your budget. It organizes your transactions by categories, you can set up and track your budget, and you can see your balances and transactions at a glance.

As a NOVA student, you have access to CashCourse – Your Real-Life Money Guide. You can register for a free account and go through the financial tools. NOVA Financial Aid is giving away twenty $100 grants to students who participate in specific topics. Get started on some of topics, and stay tuned for more information about the grants in the fall.

This Financial Fitness Library provides you with guides, resources, and tutorials to help from credit scores, to saving, to planning for retirement. This 66 Ways to Save Money Guide, provides you with tips to save in transportation, insurance, housing, utilities, and others!

Do you know of or use any apps to help you track your budget? What helps you stay on track each month? Continue this conversation with us in our Virtual Student Union. Connect with peers on this topic and learn more about resources to maintain your financial wellness! Use #SummerWellness to share your pictures and stories.

This week at NOVA Online

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Open registration for fall classes is currently underway. Check the schedule of classes in NOVA Connect and follow this tutorial to help you search for online classes through NOVA Online. Make sure you change the date to reflect the term you are looking to register for (summer ’15 or fall ’15).

Have you ever been assigned a paper or project and don’t know where to start? Are you curious what library resources are available to you without going to a campus library? Join the NOVA Online Librarians for the Beyond Google – Basic Library Skills for Online Learners webinar on Thursday, July 9 from 6:30-7:15. This 45 minute webinar will give you a brief introduction to what library resources are available to you as an online learner. There might be more than you expect! Register here.

Financial Wellness – Understanding how to live within your financial means. Planning for future financial health. Learning to think short and long-term in order to manage your resources is essential for a healthy financial experience including learning to be a good consumer. Use #SummerWellness to share your pictures and stories.

What are your summer plans? Have an internship? Traveling? Taking a class? Day Trip? We want to hear about your adventures. Use #NOVA OnlineAdventure on Twitter to share pictures and stories.

This week at NOVA Online

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American patriotic balloons in traditional colors over whitePlan ahead – NOVA Campus Testing Centers will be closed Friday, July 3rd & Saturday, July 4th for the Independence Day Holiday Weekend. ProctorU is available on those dates if the service is available for your course exams.

Are you thinking about an online course through NOVA Online, but not sure if it is right for you? Review our Furthering your education with NOVA Online recording to see if online learning is a right fit for your current educational needs. You could also take the Smarter Measure assessment to see how your personal learning styles will work with online courses.

Have you utilized Student Lingo On-Demand Workshops? Take advantage of a wide variety of recordings available to help you manage your course load, plan for the future, or tackle your math anxiety … Just to name a few! Interested in working with your Personal Success Coach to create an action plan? Contact your coach at elisuccess@nvcc.edu or 703.764.5076.

Are you participating in the Summer Wellness Series? Review the past blogs to get more information and share your stories!

What are your summer plans? Have an internship? Traveling? Taking a class? Day Trip? We want to hear about your adventures. Use #NOVA OnlineAdventure on Twitter to share pictures and stories.

Summer Wellness Series: Social Wellness

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This week’s summer wellness series focuses on social wellness. This area can include developing healthy relationships, having a strong support network, nurturing pro-active and reactive habits (online and in-person), and boundary development.

When I started thinking about this topic, I immediately thought about my housing community and the stress that it causes me on a daily basis.

How many of us have had/currently have that loud upstairs neighbor that you know exactly when they get up in the morning until when they go to bed at night? I’m currently in this club! I will say, having a loud neighbor makes me more aware and conscientious of the neighbors below me! This Buzz Feed article makes light of the constant struggle of shared walls! Seriously what are they doing up there?

Upstairs_Neighbor

How are the relationships in your community? How do you communication your frustrations about your neighbors – both online and in-person? Do You? Remember when you are communicating via email or online discussion boards to use appropriate netiquette.  Sometimes we feel brave behind our computer screen, but at the end of the day, does it really make us feel any better about our situation? Social wellness is about building and developing healthy relationships within our community and ourselves. We learn to express our concerns in a healthy and appropriate ways. Easier said then done, when lack of sleep and frustration comes into play though!

What picture stood out to you in the Buzz Feed article? What makes you feel better after frustrating situations?

Continue this conversation with us in our Virtual Student Union. Connect with peers on this topic and learn more about resources to maintain your social wellness!