April Inspiration to Students By Ian Ortega (2005-2008) My life at SHACK begins off somewhere in February 2005.

I am welcomed by a one Mr. Anthony Buuka one teacher I can confidently remark was my best teacher through the years. So to cut the long story short, I will be giving these monthly inspirations to help you make the best of your time at St.Henrys college Kitovu-studying but having a rich experience. You should live your academic life to the fullest. 1. Have A Teacher You can Run To and Confide In When you are in school, make sure you have that one teacher who is like your school parent. Create that rapport with them. For my case, I had many such teachers but Mr.Buuka played the greatest role. In my first term in Senior One, every Sunday was a Visitation day but my parents were in Kampala so I always needed someone to cover up this vacuum. I once needed textbooks and Mr.Buuka happened to be going to Kampala, he was able to cover up for this.

Another time, I could not withdraw money from the bursars place and I wanted to go home, I ran to Mr.Ojul who freely lent me the transport to Kampala. It was Mr.Buukas phone that I used freely and saved myself from lining up to use the phone booth. In fact, I did not have to pay for his Airtime.

Another time, I survived a super lashing from the Director of studies simply because I had managed to befriend every teacher. The DOS took me to the staffroom and had me, arraigned before the late Brother Luwaaga aka Dico. Brother Luwaga defended me deeply and I quote: Ortega is the only good man left, if you cane him then cane the whole school. So even if I were to be caught in a crime, there were a good number of teachers that would plead on my behalf. Make sure, you have those teachers who can stand by your side. Stop making teachers your enemies, it does not pay off. You will just find school life harder and stressing.

2. Find The Study Schedule That Works For You To this day, I remain one of the very many students who never went for Winters during the exam period. My friends would wake up and leave me tightly wound in the warm comfort of my blanket. I made sure I had enough sleep. The problem with many students is that they overread. It is not about how long you read but how well you actually revise. Even if you revised for

just an hour a day and gave it your all, with no interruptions, you will be better than another student who revises for the whole day while being interrupted with no concentration. So, dont follow the crowd, find the study schedule that works best for you. I always had a problem with Night preps, so I decided to do most of my assignments during night preps and in the last 30 minutes, I tried out maths numbers since everyone would be making noise and you could not read something like history in those last minutes. I played kikame to the maximum, I never missed the handovers but when it came to studying, I gave it my all. I simply loved my lifestyle at school.

3. Know Your strengths, and Know Your Weaknesses Know which subjects you are good at and work on perfecting them. Then, find out those subjects that are giving you a hard time, find someone that finds them very easy and consult them, go to the library and search for textbooks that try to simplify these subjects for you. Personally, I had a weakness in physics, I found Abbotts book so challenging so I chose Physics for Today and tomorrow. The pages were even smooth and it was a visually stimulating book.

Befriend those teachers in charge of teaching those hard subjects. Make them your friends, it pays off. Keep consulting them to the extent that they begin running away from you.

4. Remember Years Run So Fast In 2005, I was in my senior one; I cant believe the years have run so fast that in 2015, I will be graduating with my First Class degree in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering. Have the fun but remember, time is not on your side, so have a goal in mind. When I joined Form One, I knew which combination I was meant to do, I knew my A-level school, I knew the University I was supposed to join and which course I was meant to do. I worked towards this goal. Nothing could ever make me lose track of this goal. So remember, today you are in that class, years later, you will be writing similar inspirations to continuing students.

5. Keep The Connections While in Form One, my very first friend was Kabali Edward, we separated ways after Form Four but we kept in touch. He went to Kitende, I went to Namugongo. We all ended up with the same points, joined the same university and did the same course. Today, he helps me do some

of my course-work and I sometimes return the favour. I have not lost connections with many of my teachers. I still call Mr. Bukka once in a while, I still check on my S.2 English teacher, Brother Mugabo (now Headmaster), how I wish he became one during my time at SHACK. Ms. Phionah Nakigudde and Ms.Nalyazi are all my Facebook friends. The connections have stayed. When you are done with secondary school, dont think thats the end of your teachers, you still need them.

6. Finally- Grow, Grow and Grow Look out for every opportunity while in school and grab in. Join clubs, establish links. If there are any competitions, participate in them. I was the Assistant Editor Humour and Poetry for the shuttle magazine in my year and it paid off when it came to my time to write for the Daily Monitor. I grabbed every opportunity while in school; I kept on growing-religiously, academically, socially and of course physically.

With those six tips, your life in Kitovu ought to be a wonderful experience. Live your life; dont impress anyone, just live true to your heart. Face your fears and conquer them, run your own race. Dont compete with anyone, just struggle to beat your former records. And above all, spread the love. Reach out to those friends that need your help, those that are hurting. If a friend has been admitted, offer to keep them company in the hospital. They will always remember your acts. Be Blessed, nothing is impossible.

Tips For Better Study Habits Use 30-Day Trials. Popularized by Steve Pavlina, trial periods work under the principle that by committing to a change for a month, it will become a habit. Since it is study techniques you want to reinforce, pick one or two habits and work on them for an entire month. I worked on my time management, if it was lunch; I made sure it was lunch. The Learn-It-Once Approach. Spend your time learning things as they come up in your courses. Attend classes with the perspective that you could be tested at any moment. It should only be material that you were just presented that you might not have had time to fully learn. Waiting before tests, assignments or finals is taking things too far. The trick I used was to always learn it the very first time its taught in class. If its a formula, memorize it there and then. Dont say, I will read it later. Later as a time, may never come. If youve not understood something, make sure, you disturb the teacher until you grasp it. That was my trick; I even reached the extent of

bothering my great female history teacher about the cow-horn method. I told her to show it to me with illustrations. In fact, even if I sat for a history paper today, I would still pass it highly. I still have the Ngoni migration in my head, I still know of the Oyo empire.

Morning Review. Wake up a half hour earlier and spend that time reading from your textbook. If youve already read the chapters, spend the time rewriting the key concepts into a notebook. A half-hour out of your day in the morning probably wont create a huge impact on your schedule, yet over the entire term it can be invaluable in boosting your understanding.

Link Courses to Daily Life. Spend some time each week looking for practical ways you can use the information you are learning. If you can find situations from your daily life that are similar to your subjects, they can go from abstract theories to concrete tools. I dont advise you to do this, but while in Senior Six, a friend of mine actually combined a phone and radio into a calculator (Fx991 ms). It was illegal but sometimes doing the illegal just helps enhance the fun in learning.

Background Reading. Invest some of your time each week in reading the background of the ideas surrounding your subjects. Pick out interesting topics in the news or books that make use of ideas from your field of study. Background reading can reinforce the ideas by connecting them with reality.

Read Ahead Of The Teacher. I was always ahead of my teachers. They used to teach things after I had researched about them. In fact a teacher could not gamble around while teaching me. I could challenge Mr.Itetio when it came Geography then challenge Ms.Nalyazi in literature. When you read ahead, you are always prepared for the lesson and you find stuff easier.

Set Daily Study Times. Set periods of time that you will spend studying each day. Once you spend a month reinforcing these learning periods, it will become automatic. Regular studying times prevent the need for cramming and can give you consistency in your schedule.

Cut Wasted Time. Ive had classes where I received an A+, yet I attended less than a third of the lectures. I have had courses where I didnt buy or read the textbook. Talk to other classmates about how the course is graded (mostly textbook, mostly lectures, etc.) and use that as a basis for deciding where to cut time if you have to. Skipping a class can be a good strategy if it means you could better learn the subject on your own. I am one of those people whose Geography books had only 5 pages and the first two pages were full of quotes and maps. Perhaps thats why I ended up with a D2. Disclaimer: In our year, no one got a D1 in geography.

Focus on Learning, Not Grades. Grades are just an artificial marker used to assess how much youve learned. While they are useful as a measurement tool, focusing on grades over understanding and learning useful ideas wastes your time. Look for ways you can use the material you are learning and focus on understanding it first, put grades afterwards. Your goal should not be the marks, aim to understand the concepts and make them part of you. I never used to complain for Marks. Once I was supposed to be read out on the Academic Assembly as the best student but because I did not go back to complain about my missing marks, I missed out. I found no use of chasing marks. I was only interested in learning and disturbing my female teachers.

About Me I am Ian Ortega. I was at SHACK from 2005 to 2008. For my A-levels, I ran off to Uganda Martyrs SSS Namugongo. Perhaps I wanted to change environment or compete with geniuses from other schools. From Namugongo, I turned down a scholarship to India to pursue a Computer Engineering degree. My fellow SHACKIST, Joseph Kamya took it up. I chose to follow my dream of doing Mechanical and Manufacturing engineering at Kyambogo University. I currently work as a features writer at Daily Monitor, where I also run my own column of Music Video Reviews and I am behind the BigEye.ug website-the most visited entertainment website in Africa. SHACK gave me that foundation and I am glad I will be giving back through my Inspirations.