Stress is common among students when they deal with professors, work volume and exams.
While stress can be good at other times, when it reaches higher levels, students may need help dealing with the condition, according to Barbara Bekis, the coordinator of the educational support program.
"A lot of times it can be controlled by self-management," Bekis said. "We can't manage time, but we can manage how we use it."
To help students manage stress and recommend techniques to reduce it, the Adult Student Association and Student Activities Council will hold the first of three free workshops in stress and self-management Saturday at 10 a.m. in the UC Senate Chambers.
"Students will learn to be more efficient in studying, learning and will have less stress anxiety," Bekis said.
Bekis said she will be at the workshop to coordinate the event as well as answer questions regarding academic issues related to stress.
The workshop will also include test preparation and self-assessment on paper writing as well as ways to get along with professors, she said. One group at the workshop will focus on commuter students, Bekis said, but more specifically, adult commuter students.
Bekis said the workshops are held on Saturdays because the majority of the adult commuter students cannot make it during the weekdays.
"Adult commuter students always want to be perfect," Bekis said. "They work so hard, but they need to learn how to work smarter."
Bekis said there are a lot of issues that relate to adults on campus and they need to know how to address them.
Jim Schrader, a senior mechanical engineering major and event organizer, said ever since he came back to school, he has had a hard time adjusting.
When Schrader came to The U of M a couple years ago, he said he worked part-time at Memphis Shades and was a full-time student. He said he supported himself before he received two scholarships, with one of them coming from the Adult Student Association.
Schrader said he was an average student, but turned everything around once he started attending the workshops.
"I really owe a lot to Dr. Bekis," Schrader said.
Past workshops have also helped Gloria Anderson, a sophomore education major who claims to be younger than most U of M students.
Anderson said she plans to be a teacher and help younger students. But to accomplish that, she said college could seem much harder without receiving assistance along the way.
"It has helped me in transitioning to this university because everyone is so much younger than me," Anderson said. "I was just having a rough time."
Anderson said she has interacted with married couples and people who have families who provide for them. She said it has helped her feel at home.
"You meet a cross section of different people in different majors who deal with problems," Anderson said.
