TULSA, Okla. — Back-to-school season is underway, and that includes college-bound students. Millions are leaving the comfort of home to take on new challenges this fall, and before they leave, there are ways to set them up for success.
Lizz Carter Clark is a native Tulsan turned international speaker, bestselling author, and founder of College Moxie, a nonprofit that empowers college students. She spoke with 2 News on how families with college students can prepare now.
"Our mission is to empower every student to know their worth. We love to help them connect motives with behaviors, so they choose things that are really serving them well," said Carter Clark.
So, how do parents start that conversation?
"A great place to start is by establishing reasonable expectations and deciding now that you're willing to be a soft space for them to land. Perfect isn't real, and there will be times when their humanness shows up in these new environments and takes over some of their decision-making. Studies show that students who are comfortable having conversations about their personal lives with their parents, especially when they can talk about their mistakes or their speed bumps, are actually less likely to engage in high-risk behaviors. So, you're doing a really great thing if you could just create an environment that is a safe space for them. Land and to learn that they're resilient and that they're strong and all of those great things," said Carter Clark.
She adds that students need to learn to become their own best advocates.
"Any roadblock can become a speed bump if we are just intentional about how we look at things. And so, making sure that we are speaking up for ourselves and knowing what it is that is best serving us. Going into these new environments, oftentimes we're so focused on making friends and being liked and just taking in this whole new world that we don't always listen to our intuition. We always say, you have a gut that is worth trusting, and students need to hear that so often in these new environments where they're making decisions for the first time without a curfew, and they don't have a fully developed frontal lobe, so every option is available to them. And so them being able to speak up and say, you know what, this is something I'm really not comfortable with, is sometimes the best way to empower a friend to be able to speak up and stand up for what they believe too," said Carter Clark.
Carter Clark says addressing time management in a new environment is also essential.
"I think one of the keys is having those conversations ahead of time to make sure that they know how they are best set up for success. What does their study environment look like when they're really retaining and soaking in information in a way that they're going to remember it for a test? Is that alone? Do they do better in a group? Is that with music? Is it in their room or at the library? Simply having self-awareness around what sets us up best is going to help them when all of a sudden, they have all of these social distractions, and there's no longer a professor checking in to say, How's that assignment coming? It's just due when it's due," said Carter Clark.
Lizz Carter Clark offers additional insights and tips on Sorority recruitment as well as on her social media channels and her website https://www.collegemoxie.org, where she also has a podcast.
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