18/10/2023
It was only Monday morning, and Paulyn was already stressed. She arrived at her Senior High School early with her friends to review for her Research test in their small library, but it was already packed with students. It seemed that other students had the same idea, forcing them to wander around the school grounds for a place to study, but to no avail. Dried leaves and plastic littered the area, with plants and trees scarce in sight, resulting in more brown than green around her. The lack of greenery drained what little motivation Paulyn had left after she left the library. Nothing from her notes seemed to stick in her mind.
Now, as she looked at her low quiz results, all she could think was if only there were a vibrant and clean space for her to study, then that would have been nice.
๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐๐ค๐๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ (๐จ๐ซ ๐ ๐
๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ซ๐)
We tend to think that in order to perform well in school, all we need is motivation, talent, and effort; that is, to sit for hours and cram our notes into our heads as much as possible. But the reality is, our surroundings actually have more impact on our studies than sheer willpower. In his book "Atomic Habits," James Clear describes the environment as '๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ณ,' as it always overpower our personal characteristics, especially over an extended period of time.
RECA would even bet that you would lose all your desire to study if your surroundings are chaotic, untidy, and unkempt. Whenever you sit in the canteen to review your notes but find your table smudged with food and cluttered with plates and bottles, all you will think is how inconsiderate your schoolmates are instead of your upcoming test. One of our members shared her home situation where she told us how she often gets unmotivated to do her assignments in their house since it is always packed with noisy guests and unnecessary stuff. She have reported that this negatively affected her mental health and disrupted her productivity.
Such is the power of your environment.
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ง๐ฏ๐ข๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ
Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC) defined a successful student in their official website as:
โ Confident
โ Self-motivated
โ Disciplined
โ Socially Engaged
โ Compassionate
โ Responsible
โ Lifelong Learner
๐จ๐๐
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐
๐๐ ๐๐๐.
According to Conlu, P. et al (2023) in their study on the Effects of Green Space on the Social Behavior of Students, "๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ง๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ด๐ต, ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ข๐ธ๐ฏ."
Their study also found that Green spaces:
โ
Positively impact the physical and mental health of students.
โ
Promote interaction, communal activities, and social skill development.
โ
Encourage decision-making, problem-solving, and independence.
โ
Boost self-confidence, resilience, and leadership skills.
โ
Motivate initiative and goal-setting.
โ
Inspire creativity and excitement.
Green space is simply defined as 'area of grass, trees, or other vegetation set apart for recreational and aesthetic purposes' that is well-maintained and regularly cleaned. And apparently, it is the best environment for a successful academic journey.
Green space, just like our campus.
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ง-๐๐ฉ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฏ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐ง ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ฎ
We are fortunate to be enrolled in a university that aims to become a leading GREEN institution by 2030. Most of its activities, such as the curriculum for NSTP and USG programs, are designed to clean our campus and make it greener. Our university and its administration understand that these initiatives are not only beneficial to the environment but their students as well.
If you'd like our campus to be your Green space for your studies, mental health, physical, and social well-being, kindly practice the following:
1๏ธโฃ Participate in University-organized Clean-up Drive events.
2๏ธโฃ Observe the "Clean As You Go" (CLAYGO) Policy, especially in the canteen.
3๏ธโฃ Properly segregate your trash into their respective bins (Biodegradable, Non-Bio, Compostable, Hazardous).
4๏ธโฃ Refrain from littering within the school grounds and pick up any garbage you find.
5๏ธโฃ Avoid the use of single-use plastic and plastic bags within the campus.
6๏ธโฃ Care for the plants inside the campus and avoid causing any damage to them.
Not only are these habits beneficial to you, but they also benefit the people around you. Let us strive for our school to continue being a nurturing environment for us to become physically, emotionally, and mentally healthy; ready to tackle the world after we graduate. Cheers.
๐๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐๐ฌ:
Characteristics of Successful Students. (n.d.). Oklahoma City Community College. Retrieved October 13, 2023, from https://www.occc.edu/support/characteristics/ #
Clear, J. (2016). Motivation is Overvalued. Environment Often Matters More. James Clear. https://jamesclear.com/power-of-environment
Conlu P., et al (2023). Effects of Green Space to the Social Behaviour of Students (Senior high school thesis). Doรฑa Montserrat Lopez Memorial High School-Senior High School.
