Tips for Students from Students
Meet students and share the benefits of their experiences.


Marta Cruz
New York Always reach for the stars. Never give up on your hopes and dreams, even though some of them won't come through. Always believe in yourself, even if others don't. Do things for yourself, not for your teacher or your parents, or anyone else, but for yourself. Know that you're capable of learning. Try hard, and take little steps to achieve little things and that will lead to bigger goals.

Bonnie Wouwenaar
The Netherlands Believe in yourself. Learn study skills and organizational techniques. Find teachers and a tutor that understand learning differences. Learn about active reading skills, visuals, and mnemonic devices. Keith Promisel
Washington When you're doing anything--whether it's playing ball, going on vacation with your parents, going to school, or doing whatever you do - it's important to have a real sense of what you like about yourself and what you want to work on. That way, you can constantly be in touch with who your are, and constantly keep growing into who you'd like to become. I think that there are three ways of being human. First, there's a "self-ishness" way where you're doing things for yourself and only for yourself. Feeling "self-ish" in this way, you can be so self-involved that you cloud your own real needs and true feelings. Secondly, there is a "self-lessness" way, where you act as if you don't have a sense of self. When you feel "self-less," you have little sense of being unique or having an individual identity. You may almost feel invisible, even to yourself. Finally, there is a "self-ness" way where you are aware of who you are and how you feel, and can be honest with yourself about your thoughts and feelings. I believe that you must have a true sense of who you are in the most fundamental way in order to succeed. If you are too "self-ish" or too "self-less," then you may not be following your natural needs and interests. In fact, you may not know what is right and good for you. "Self-ness" is the understanding and respect of one's self. It is a recognition of who you are and it is the act being true to those feelings. Self-ness is the first fundamental step toward self-advocacy. It allows you to see yourself as you really are, rather than as the image that is reflected back to you by your environment. Once you begin the process of self-evaluation, you are on your way to identifying honestly what things need to be done for you specifically. To be an advocate for yourself you have to understand two very important ideas before you get going:

1. You must understand what your honest and true capabilities really are
2. You must understand and identify what methods you want to use to promote your ability

There's a real negative connotation that goes along with being identified as "not doing well in school." To beat that, you have to become your own advocate and learn how to tell people what you want and need in order to succeed. Once you have an understanding of who you are, then as you learn how to be your best advocate you will be better equipped to avoid - and survive - failure. This is not to say being "self-ness" is living life without risks. It simply allows you to focus on what you need more precisely and accurately.
-M.ARUNPRAKASH.