By SEHAR MUGHAL
STAFF WRITER
It’s difficult to imagine juggling work, classes, an internship, being involved with the University’s radio Station and other organizations, and doing well in it all.
Kayla Duran, a sophomore at Rutgers, New Brunswick, has managed to do all of this — and still have a social life.
During her years at Rutgers, Duran has taken up many opportunities including working at the Rutgers Student Center; involvement at the University’s Radio Station, WRSU; the Douglass Governing Council; The Rutgers University Student Assembly; being a founding sister of Phi Sigma Sigma; and, just recently, starting an internship at the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute.
Duran is also taking 19.5 credits worth of classes.
To keep everything in order, she has three different planners. “One for homework assignments, another for events and meetings, and my Blackberry is my third one which gives me a notice before events so I can remember,” she said.
When asked how she deals with all of this, Duran responded that when she’s overwhelmed, she just listens to some music.
“I listen to fast dance music when I want to keep my momentum or try to energize myself,” she said. “If I'm having a stressful day I listen to a Mexican band called Sin Bandera. Their music consists of ballads so it’s a soft easy listen.”
She also says that she’s kept a close-knit group of friends that are always there when she needs to de-stress. “They probably give me the best advice whenever I’m thinking about doing something,” she said.
Deciding which and how many activities she takes on at a time is also difficult, but she says that she never takes on more than she can manage.
“I would never get involved in something that I wouldn’t like because I believe in putting my all in everything that I do,” she said.
Duran says that she loves to do whatever she does, even if it is difficult or stressful sometimes. It’s always rewarding, she said.
Last semester, she began working at the university’s radio station, WRSU, where she now co hosts the show Tuesday Knight Beat, and is looking forward to hosting her own show in the future.
As a part of the Rutgers University Student Assembly, and The Douglass Governing Council, Duran says that she is able to bring up concerns that students have and try to come up with solutions to them—something that she loves to do.
Involvement with different projects at Rutgers, for her, all lead to the direction of becoming a lawyer.good She says that all of these organizations will help to develop her skills and turn her into a better candidate for law school.
Becoming a lawyer has always been her ultimate goal. “I've wanted to be a lawyer ever since I was little,” she said “I feel like I have always wanted it.”
Such a busy schedule does have a down side though. “I am tired all the time” Duran says, “It comes with a price I guess but I've never been a big sleeper so it doesn't bother me as much.”
|
