The Birth of “JoynHer”
/Join-Her/
noun
A universal lifestyle vlog/blog that encompasses everyday relatable events, obstacles & truths.
How it all began
JoynHer was officially created in the Fall (November) 2017 and will successfully be celebrating its 3rd year this November. Before the thought of JoynHer being used for a vlog had ever been conceived it was actually used for my undergraduate SGA campaign. I was running for a senator at large position. There were 5 seats for 5 senators and I was determined to be one of those senators. My Campaign tagline was JoynHer. My cousin had helped come up with this because our last name is Joyner. So instead of “Join Her” which is what I originally had, it was then changed to JoynHer.
From there on it had just been sitting after I won the campaign until an idea had been brought about by many friends, family, and peers. The idea was to start a vlog. Many ideas were to include fashion, family, makeup and so much so it became a vlog about my experiences. This later turned into adding the Grad School Truths series.
Grad School Truths
Grad School Truths was created as a safe and interactive outlet for me as a graduate student. This was a way for students to relate and receive information about different topics that are related to graduate school. Why did I need an outlet in graduate school? So here’s the thing… there’s a change that occurs during your transition from being an undergraduate student to becoming a graduate student. This change will occur with or without your permission and it’s okay because it’s natural. Whether you go right into grad school after you graduate as an undergrad or whether you wait until you’re in your career or married with children there will be a need for you to learn the culture of graduate school. The change that occurs is this… Whatever was working before absolutely may not work this time around because the circumstances are different and the stakes are much higher. These are the things that change from being an undergrad student to becoming a grad student;
Undergrad student————————————————————> Grad student
Going out
You’ll probably only go to big events like homecoming, welcome weeks and a few others. It slows down because you either don’t want to be seen or you have limited time. As a graduate student, you'll probably find it more rewarding to watch a new Netflix series or sleep when you have free time because there won’t be much of it. Between doing papers or projects, meeting with your professors, chair of your department or advisor, doing an extensive amount of research, working, remembering to eat/sleep and stay sane all together any moment of silence you’ll take however you can get it.
Drinking
Your drinking will increase substantially. Now what your choice of beverage is to drink will depend on you. It may vary from coffee, energy drinks, wine or even tequila but it increases. Be sure not to get too out of hand when it comes to any of these adult beverages and if needed take breaks away from drinking them.
Student involvement
As a graduate student, your focus becomes sharpened and tailored towards your choice of study. Whether it be music, communication, biology or even political science all of your academic work becomes centered around your emphasis of choice. Therefore you’ll only see it fit to be involved with people or events that are relatable and worth your time. I suggest actively using this time to participate in department events, conferences at your school (as well as other institutions) and especially to network internally ( at your school) and externally (other schools). It’s okay to meet people in different places.
Class schedule
It is very rare that you will have a class less than two in a half hours unless it’s a 400 level G course. A 400 level G course is a course that is offered for undergraduate and graduate students to enroll for college credit. Yes, this means that you’ll be in a course with undergraduate students but more of you may be required because of your status as a graduate student. Most graduate courses during the week are in the range of two in half to four hours. Luckily, this is usually once a week and in the afternoon or evenings. Now, there are some programs where there are weekend courses and they can range anywhere from two to eight hours but that depends on the professors and department.
Your sanity
Expect to lose your mind a couple of times or more throughout your graduate career. It’s perfectly normal and will be needed. You’ll have moments where you’ll cry, drink, question yourself, want to slap your professor and even want to give up but it’s perfectly normal. There are a series of emotions that you’ll go through and feel because there’s just so much going on at one moment. This becomes an important time for “You-time”. You-time is very important for you to survive in graduate school. Learning to take time for yourself and relax will pay off.
Your health
The college experience within itself is a lot to adjust to, especially if you’ve been sheltered. Between studying, being involved and learning who you are all in one it’s a lot to balance. In graduate school, everything has a deadline and time goes by very quickly so it’s important to make time for yourself but especially your health. With staying up late, waking up early and working on all of your work it can become very easy to not get enough sleep and keep up with your health. Your health can be maintained by going to the gym, setting study hours, making sure that you’re sleeping and properly eating but also managing your time. Not every moment needs to be filled with studying but not every moment is meant to be spent relaxing. Finding an equilibrium between both is necessary.
Your sleep pattern
It’s safe to say that you probably won’t have a steady sleep schedule unless you’re diligent about your time management. It’s important to know when to turn it all off so that you can reboot yourself. Having a cut-off study time is a safety net for catching yourself when. You begin to do too much. Often more times than less I overworked myself without even knowing so until my body has naturally reacted or shutdown. Not getting enough sleep seems all fine and harmless until you look up and you’re having serious health problems that interfere with your graduate career when you could’ve just simply scheduled a nap or plan a bedtime.
Anxiety and stress
Throughout your graduate career, you will be stressed out due to many things. These things will range from graduate school, classes, professors, family, relationships, financials, and life but you’ll have to learn a very important word and that word is “No”. Learn to say no because you can’t do everything nor should you ever try. The word “No” can literally save you from so many problems.
Student/Professor interaction
The fun part of graduate school is when you have to play phone tag, email back and forth and practically harass your professors for your work. Taking the time to understand that professors have lived as well as important but they’ve also chosen to be professors. As lifetime students they should understand how it feels to be exactly where you are. With this being the case you will have one of the three types of professors.
The nonchalant professor
The nonchalant professor just honestly doesn’t care. They don’t care about deadlines, they don’t care about the work, they don’t care about most things and tend to reuse the syllabus and reassign. You can get lucky with the nonchalant professor depending on how they are. There’s the positive nonchalant professor and the asshole nonchalant professor.
The realistic and understanding professor
The realistic and understanding professor tends to be pretty cool. They can spot bullshit but they are understanding of real situations with students. Usually, all you have to do is talk to the professor about what’s going on and they’ll be understanding because you took the time to contact them instead of waiting until the last minute or having a ridiculous excuse.
The overachieving professor
The overachieving professor is the professor that is usually at a high level in the department. Published work, awards, accolades, extensive research and takes their field very seriously. This professor often can be seen as really smart or super crazy. There are different types of achieving professors that exist.
Each of these professors operates in very different ways for every different reason. Sometimes they truly mean no harm it’s just how they are and other times they should’ve been fired and know that but because of good ole tenure they unfortunately still have a job.
