With the final weeks of the semester winding down, it’s easy to get caught up in the madness. Things slip your mind and time passes you by. Did you get your FASFA in? Did you register for your fall classes? When is that final paper due? These are all questions we ask ourselves but sometimes, we ask them too late. Don’t worry – it happens to the best of us so set up a system so that this won’t happen again! Here are a couple of tips for keep up with important school deadlines:

• Check your school’s app. Most universities have taken advantage of students’ obsessions with social media and technology and have created apps that contain the latest information from the website in an accessible organized app. If it contains an in-app calendar, more than likely you can sync it with your phone’s calendar. This way, all deadlines will be inserted on your phone automatically and you will see alerts with upcoming deadlines.
• Set phone alerts. If the sync option is not available for you, pull up your school’s academic calendar and pair it with your class syllabi. Look at all the important dates and insert them right onto your phone's calendar. Set up alerts for high priority deadlines.
• Use a wall calendar. You can find huge wall calendars at Walmart for about $5. I hung it on the back of the door of my room and wrote all my assignments on there as soon as I got them. Seeing the upcoming deadlines in all caps and bright red (my tactic) kept me on the right track and focused to meet my goals.

Though it is the end of the year, carry these methods over to the fall and prepare yourself for the full semester. It you write all deadlines down at the beginning or as they are assigned, you will not have to worry about missing another one. I wish all readers success and good luck on finals!

Chelsea Slaughter is currently a junior at Jacksonville State University majoring in communications (public relations concentration) and minoring in art. She serves as a resident assistant on campus, is the treasurer in the Public Relations Organization and is an active member in W.I.S.E., NAACP and Omicron Delta Kappa Honors Leadership Society. She aims to work in the entertainment industry post-graduation and is well on her way thanks to an internship with a digital marketer to several music artists. Chelsea strives to achieve all of her goals and motivate others along the way.

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