As 2025 begins, UC Irvine students are gearing up for the winter quarter with New Year’s resolutions by blending personal development with academic and professional goals.
Third-year East Asian cultures student Erika Pipkin hopes for a more structured routine and a healthier lifestyle.
“I guess I just anticipated when I started college that it would only take one quarter turn to figure out how I’m most effective in my studies, and it is about balance,” Pipkin told New University. “And then something that I learned is that I’m always learning about myself and my habits — how there’s just no time I can be effective, not just in my work, but also in my relationships.”
For Pipkin, experimenting with different routines each quarter has been essential to that progress. For now, she has found that block scheduling every step of her day — from the moment she wakes up to the moment she says her prayers and goes to bed — is how she can best serve herself and productivity.
“I think I’m very much an idealist,” Pipkin said. “So I’m always chasing after my best performance and my best self, so to speak.”
Pipkin acknowledges that a day doesn’t always go as planned, and interruptions often come up that demand flexibility. But when it comes to what she can control, Pipkin makes sure to follow through with her plans.
“I guess life is just always, like, trying to balance things,” Pipkin said. “It’s always impossible to do so, but we just have to try our best.”
A balanced lifestyle is also a new priority for second-year psychological sciences student Ela Cabanillas. She has struggled to set a routine for herself since graduating from high school, a time where a structured schedule was already given.
“During high school, I was very active already because I was in sports, and I didn’t have to worry about cooking for myself and that kind of thing, because it was already part of my life,” Cabanillas told New University. “But then when I go to college, I have to do all of that on my own. And I just noticed that I didn’t make an effort to establish a routine that kind of addresses all those things.”
Many UCI students agree that winter quarter is usually the toughest of the school year, likely due to a widespread lack of energy and motivation. Cabanillas’ last winter quarter was especially difficult because it was her first time living on her own and navigating all the associated responsibilities.
“So I had kind of a weird winter quarter, I think, compared to most people. And it was just kind of — it was just really a hard quarter for me personally,” Cabanillas said.
To achieve a more well-rounded lifestyle in 2025, Cabanillas is focusing on planning ahead — writing down every event, assignment and test as soon as she learns about them.
“For winter quarter, my goals are, I really want to just be more on top of planning ahead with my classes,” Cabanillas said. “Because sometimes things sneak up on me, [so] having those things as soon as possible will help me to kind of create [and] make my plans around that.”
Other students are expecting this year to bear change.
Fourth-year drama student Lara Verret plans to spend this year exploring a possible career path that employs her creativity. Verret initially intended to pursue a career in live theater but has lately been acting on camera and experimenting with filmmaking. She sees a potential future in the field and hopes to explore it further by enrolling in film and media studies classes, auditioning for short films and making some movies herself.
“I hope to spend this year intentionally learning about the film world and setting myself up for success for a future in the industry,” Verret told New University. “Overall, I’m trying to more intentionally work toward bigger picture goals as some of my studies slow down in the last year or so.”
Additionally, Verret serves as co-captain of Improv Revolution at UCI this school year and has ambitious plans for the club going forward.
“For example, we have plans of putting on an improvised puppet show and taking a workshop with a veteran puppeteer in preparation,” Verret said.
While pursuing change and setting new goals for herself, Verret keeps in mind a quote from science communicator, vlogger and entrepreneur Hank Green about the importance of constant personal development: “There’s one thing that you are making every day, no matter what you’re doing, and that is yourself. That is your job. And you must do it well.”
“That’s what I’ll keep holding onto — the reality that every day I get to choose who I am and what I accomplish, and I look to fulfill that responsibility with light and love always,” Verret said.
Mariam Farag is a Features Intern for the fall 2024 quarter. She can be reached at msfarag@uci.edu.
Edited by Kaelyn Kwon and Jaheem Conley.
