Tate Goering

English 102
Ms. Arini
3/7/21

The first interviewee is Heidi Johnson who is a Speech language pathologist and early
special education teacher. She attended the University of Oregon from 1984-1988 and double
majored in Language Pathology and Audiology. During this interview we discussed her
experience in college and how she managed stress. The next interviewee is Peyten Schultz who
is a Junior at Northern Arizona University and is majoring in Biology. During this interview we
discuss Peyeten’s experience so far at NAU and how she manages stress with her current class
load being a STEM major.

Tate: So we have Heidi Johnson here To talk about, Your college experience and stress and how
she dealt with it.
Tate:Heidi, would you like to introduce yourself?
Heidi:Sure, I'd be happy to. Yep, my name is Heidi Johnson and I am currently a speech and
language pathologist. An early childhood special education teacher, and I can tell you a little bit
about myself. I went to the University of Oregon. From my undergraduate from 84 to 88 an I
majored in speech language pathology and Audiology and I have a minor in music performance
and then.
From 88 to 89 at the University of Oregon, I did a double Masters of speech language pathology
as well as early childhood special education.
Tate:Nice and you're, A school teacher right now, right?
I have a combination job, so I'm a special education teacher as well as speech and language
therapy.
Tate:So you said you went to University of Oregon, right?
Yes
Tate:And how, how is that experience kind of overall?
Heidi:It was a, Really excellent experience actually. I had a really good experience in college. I
think the University offered a really great combination of a lot of different coursework and
different things. A program to explore as I tried to figure out what I wanted to do and it was the
medium place campus. I think there are about 20,000. It may be 18,000, so it was big enough to
get a lot of, you know, meet a lot of different people and do some exploring, but then it was also
small enough that once I got into my area. That I have chosen to study. I really had a cohort of
people that I really connected with and felt really supported by.
Tate:So how did your class load vary from minor to your major?
Uh, well, in undergrad I did about 16 to 21 credits a semester, and so because I had. A minor in
music performance that took a fair amount of time and credits, so I kind of had to have a little bit
higher Coursework, And in Graduate School it was about 12 to 16 credits. I think in order to get
through grad school and be done within two years.
Tate:Yeah, how's your homework load throughout all that? Did you have a lot of homework
after school and how did you manage that?
So I mean the music performance minor was a uh for me. It was a lot of time I had to do a lot of
practicing. We had practice rooms and so I'd have to everyday go and practice pieces. I was
working on as well as I played in three or four different performance groups and that took a lot
of time, but at the same time is also really fun and, I think it was a big stress relief. Actually, to
be able to play music and kind of be around the same group of people in different groups, and so
that was really fun. And then yeah, speech and language pathology is pretty rigorous, and so
there was a lot of a lot of work on and I have the science degree now. Did a lot of you know
there was a lot of demand for. Homework and labs and. There's lots of memorization. But yeah,
I'd say it was a combination of memorization and what speech and language pathology is an
applied science. And so I really liked it because it had science and a lot of neuroscience. But it
was applied to human development and human behavior. And so I found that really interesting.
Tate:How did you manage your time? How much do you spend hanging out with friends? Or
you know doing class work and going to school or you know.
Well, I can add to that as I also always had a job going through college, so I pretty much put
myself through school and so it was required that I I work on the side as well so I had.
I think that it really taught me to balance my time and really think about my week and how with
my work and my practicing and my.
Uhm, academics how to make that all kind of fit together and so a lot of it was learning about
time management. And I, I guess I'm kind of a work hard play hard kind of person, so having a
lot of social time is important to me. So I made sure to build that in if I didn't. If I didn't get the
social time. And you know time with friends you know out doing things that affected the rest of
the balance. So I really tried to keep a nice balance between all those things. And we're having
that job.
Tate:Do you think you think that contributed to a little bit of stress?
Ah yeah, it definitely was. I just had to be more organized and so that maybe was a little bit of
stress. But I also do it. It allowed me to go to college. So that was. You know I had a goal in
mind and so on. And also the jobs that I picked. I had really interesting jobs too. Some of them,
and so that helped. Also with my academics because I was able to sort of consider how I was
going to use my degree in my career as I interacted with people at those jobs.
Tate:Do you think that organization would be a good tip to college students, or really anyone
who's dealing with a lot of stress right now?
Yeah, I think one of the things that I did was I was really really good about keeping a calendar
and one of the things that that I do to keep stress down is not have to carry around things in my
head to remember like I gotta do this. I gotta do that for me. It was really important to sit down.
On Sundays, and I'll do it again tonight. I'm still doing it as an adult. I'm thinking about my week
and writing down what I have to do. And what I want to do and just get that out of my head is a
stress relief, so I know that I don't have to let it kind of spin around in there and worry if that I'm
going to forget something. It's right there and so I'm a big big paper calendar I don't use. I still
don't use a digital Calendar very well. I have a paper calendar and I have a kind of a whole
system for organizing that and that actually helps me relieve my stress knowing that everything
is right there.
Tate:Yeah, and then probably going to talk about your special education class.what are the main
differences between before the pandemic and and during all of this?
In terms of being a teacher and the stress level with that. Yeah, just yeah, stress level and just the
amount of work you have to put in versus You know, before covid and ll all the zoom and
everything.
Heidi:Yeah, well, I think which is true for a lot of people, but I think especially teachers and
therapists have to completely change the way that we provide our work and our therapy and
instruction. So instead of you know, being able to be you know face to face and you know, work
alongside and with children. We had to do that remotely and luckily, my background experiences
working with families and so that they can prove they can be part of their child's. Play partners to
support that development to happen. Whether that communication, development or thinking
skills, or helps all those learning things that we expect kids to do in that age range. If parents are
able to join their team and have play opportunities that support that that's the switch that we had
to do. So I feel very fortunate 'cause that was my area that I felt really comfortable in So there
was a lot of stress I think the biggest stress was. I was on some committees on trying to support
our school district to look at virtual platforms. In order to provide instruction, I think that was
fairly stressful because it was so much of a hurry to get this platform out and everybody learned
it. In addition to, you know, just the learning curve of how to use all the digital platforms and
the. Video casting and all the other. The grading and the communication methods. So that was
probably the biggest stress I was ever getting ever ready on to this distance learning platform
digitally and working with it to try to make everything flow from your house.
Tate:Do you have any examples of maybe when you were extra stressed out during you know all
the teaching staff or during college has some methods that help you really calm down. Maybe
breathing, or you know something like that?
Heidi:Uh, huh, well that's a great question. One of the things that I lead and facilitate with others
in my work is called reflective practice, and that's an ability to take time out of our profession.
Roles and really sit together and support each other. To process what's going well, what's
challenging in a very supportive and non judgmental way. And so I've continued to facilitate that
with my team that I lead and as well I did that with supporting families to do that and that just in
itself we call that a parallel process. So if I'm supporting a family to do that, it is also supporting
my relaxation and my insight as well as their relaxation and their ability to tune into their child
so it's kind of cool because it has this kind of parallel, even though I'm supporting someone else
too I'm distressed and kind of focus on what's important. It's also calming and relaxing for
myself and then, of course in the classroom we do a lot of mindfulness and I so I really tried to
include the adults and the children in the mindfulness activities and then I think the third thing is
just, you know, getting outside every single day with the dog, and with friends, and hiking,
skiing. Just getting my heart rate up and getting some of those you know, stress hormones. To
get out while you know laughing and enjoying being out in nature and being with friends.
Tate:Yeah, that the exercise is, I think the part. When doing all this, it's pretty hard to maybe go
to the gym ish. Not often you go outside, but going outside is, I think, pretty beneficial to mental
health. I think the last question would be do you have any I mean last recommendations to
Students, or really anyone with stressful workload?
Heidi:Well, I would say make sure that you have at least one or two people in your life that you
can talk to and that you trust and sometimes that you know. Take some, take some work to meet
new people at school and develop those friendships, but you know making sure that you're
making the effort to know do people want to go on walks and so forth? Even if you're feeling a
little shy or not sure to just put yourself out there and those connections you have with people
can really be a source of support during stressful times. The other thing too, that is, you know
having a passion or something that you can do every day, whether that is boosting the music or
playing music or going for walks but just build that into your day. It's just part of the day, and
pretty soon it'll feel routine and you won't even think of it as something one more thing to do that
will actually.
It is an important part of my day to connect with what makes me feel calm and centered and
focused.
Tate:Great and I've heard that you like to do pottery. It is kind of a hobby or something that
helps you destress a little bit?
Heidi:Yeah I do art. I do this because of covid, the pottery studio that I'm a member of a studio
that closed down. I'm kind of a little set up at home for some pottery as well as I also do
linoleum cut prints and so I meet up with on zoom with my friends who also do this. And I've
taught a couple of classes and I'm just connecting with each other, doing something relaxing like
that has been a really really really fun part of covid I have to say.
Heidi:The other thing I might add to this as I'm thinking here is if you're in a hard space or a
hard time. Like you're really stressed to an you're feeling like there's there's you know there's I
think there's a tendency, especially like when you're in your 20s that you know it's always going
to be like this it's always going to be stressful and I'm always going feel like this and know that
feelings do pass and things change. And so always know that there's hope out there and not to
feel like you're stuck like you've got tools and you've got people to connect with to help that
feeling that feeling moved on.
Tate:Yeah, that is really good advice well.
Thank you very much.
Heidi:You're welcome.

Peyten Schultz’s interview.

Tate:We are here with peyten Schultz, who is a junior at Northern Arizona University.
Peyten would you like to introduce yourself?.
Peyten: Yeah absolutely Hi, my name is Peyten Schultz. I am currently a junior at Northern
Arizona University. I am majoring in biology. I want to be a PA, so going to PA School in a
couple of years. Most of my classes are in the medical field as opposed to more of the ecological
field but still A general biology major.
Tate:Great, and how would you say your college experience is? Overall, do you enjoy it?
Have you been making friends, and do you notice any difference with making friends and that
kind of stuff before covid and now during the pandemic?
Peyten: Yeah, absolutely you know one of the things I love about NAU is that it is such a big
college, but it feels more small just because over time you start to see the same people in your
classes and in your field and so yeah, I loved going to class prior to the whole pandemic thing. It
was great. I liked making new friends in class and sitting next to new people and getting to know
people throughout the year, and so it's definitely harder with everything being digital. It is
definitely harder to make friends because as you know, unless you're in a great breakout group,
you might not actually have a chance to interact with people one on one, and so I definitely think
it's a lot harder to make friends and branch out and meet new people this year.
And then even if you do, it's unlikely that you'll get to meet them in person for a while, so it's
definitely harder.
Tate:And how is your class load right now?
Peyten: Right now it's hard, you know. Going to the junior year, you know it's kind of
everyone's hardest year. I feel like, and so the classes get pretty intense. The workload ramps up,
but you know I'm taking 13 credits this semester, which is less than I normally take. I'm normally
a 15 to 16 credit kind of person per semester, which is about average. So this year, taking a
couple like 1 less class. But it's only because the classes I'm taking this semester are pretty
intense.
We've got biochem, physics, genetics and writing intensive courses. So making time for all of
those classes and their homework load has been my like #1 priority.
Tate:And how do you manage your time? Do you have a planner or do you sit down in the
mornings and plan out your day?
Peyten: So I am a planner. Religiously, I use my planner every single day at the start of the
semester. I sit down and I write down all the major assignments throughout the semester so I
never missed one.
And I know when it's coming up and yeah, at the beginning or the end of a week, I'll write down
all the little assignments that get assigned throughout the week and so I don't miss those either.
So I'm a huge planner, I think they're so helpful. They keep you organized to keep you on track
and it's easy and it works for me. So I do that and I make a little To Do List, day by day I find
that that helps me manage my time. If I've got other things to do besides school, you know I try
to set aside time to get outside or go to the gym and make a To Do List. Making time for all of
that's really important for me.
Tate:And do you have a lot of stress right now? How do you feel about your stress levels?
Peyten: You know, I try to manage my stress as much as possible, but I definitely feel like a fair
amount of stress. I think most students during this time do. It's just really been tricky for all of us
to adjust to this new form of learning. And yeah it definitely added some stress to all of our lives,
so I would say, yeah, I feel stress pretty constantly.
Tate:Yeah, I think. Zoom classes do add a level of stress.
Tate:Do you think you think you are more stressed out before covid and zoom classes and with
homework load? How much homework do you have before versus now? And you think a lot of
it's busywork or what's your take on that?
Peyten: Oh, so you know it's hard to say because as you go through the years you know, your
homework load increases. But I would say I probably feel like I have more homework. You
know, in this past year with the pandemic. But you know? It was just different prior to the
pandemic. You know you would go to class and you sit there and lecture and you get an
opportunity in class to do like in class assignments that were actually in class assignments and so
it didn't feel so much like homework or busywork. It felt like working as a group or on your own
and you could ask the teacher questions and so that to me with Zoom is so different you know it
feels more like a homework assignment than in class activity and so being able to you know
actually go to class, do that and then come home and you know later that day work on homework
homework is a totally different take then you know, just doing it all on your own in your room,
by yourself. It's so different and so I feel like maybe the home workload hasn't increased as much
as it feels like. But you know, it takes a toll; Not being able to kind of disconnect from school.
Tate:Yeah, I feel that it's pretty hard to get. That connection with your teachers that you would
get. From traditional classes and in the classroom. And so. So do you notice any times of the day
where you're more stressed than others? You know maybe in the morning when you have a few
classes coming up or or at night when you have some deadlines to meet? Or does it just kind of
vary from day to day.
Peyten: Yeah, so I try to avoid those last minute cram sessions where I'd be super stressed out at
midnight. You know 'cause we've all got those midnight deadlines, but yeah, I definitely have
had those nights where you know it's a Tuesday night. It's 11:30 and you're banging out that
essay last minute. You know, I think we've all been there and it's hard not to feel stressed in
those moments now. I try to avoid that as much as possible and I try to plan out my day in the
morning so that doesn't happen. But yeah, it's when you're down to the last minute and it's at
night.
It's definitely stressful, but I am trying to manage my time as best as possible and avoid those
stressful moments as best I can.
Tate:Has anyone like a family member or friend giving you some good advice during a stressful
time maybe? Call them up when you have a big final coming up or job interviews.
Is there anyone in your family or your friends' friend group that could give you some good
advice?
Peyten: My mom, she's awesome. She's my rock and so I've definitely called her.
Been super stressed out before and she's always great. She always reminds me, you know. Take a
deep breath. It's not the end of the world, you know. Just stay in the moment and so I think
having her there and you know, reminding myself that it is just you know one assignment. One
essay or what one projectAnd it's not the end of the world if it's not perfect, so that's really
helpful. And then the other great piece of advice I've gotten is, you know, just make time for
yourself. It's so easy in today's world to just get wrapped up and everything we have to do and
not take time to realize. The moment that we're in an accepted and. Appreciate it at that moment,
So just taking, you know if you can 30 minutes. If not, you know just five minutes out of your
day to center yourself. Be present. Do something that calms you and just taking that time for
yourself has been super super crucial for me.
Tate:Do you have any other recommendations to students about handling stress or anxiety?
Maybe yoga or you know deep breathing, that kind of stuff.
Peyten: Yeah, for me I've got a couple working out is huge. It gives you an endorphin release
like no other and so that's really, really helpful in managing stress so you know when I go to the
gym. It's like the one time of day that I feel like I can really focus on. What I'm doing at that
moment instead of worrying about assignments or school or anything so you know if you can get
to the gym, get outside, take a walk, go for a run, ride your bike, do anything to kind of give you
that endorphin release. I think it is really helpful in managing stress.
And finding a hobby, finding something that you find calming and peaceful.
That's fun for you to do. Whether that's you know, getting outside and hiking or biking or
whatever, or I've taken up painting this past semester, it's been really, really fun for me. It's a
creative outlet for me that I don't really. Normally I get to do so and in a way I'm kind of
appreciative of this. Not appreciative of the pandemic, but appreciative of the time that it's given
me to kind of reflect and try something new and you know, painting. I'm not great at it, but I
have a lot of fun doing it and it's therapeutic and relaxing so you know, find some sort of creative
outlet. I think it really helps.
Tate:Yeah, it is really great advice. I think that is all the questions that I have for you for now.
Thank you so much for coming on today.Yeah have a good one.
Peyten: Yeah, thanks for having me.
Tate:Bye bye.