It’s nearly the end of the semester and finals are right around the corner. Final projects, papers, and exams are due in just a few weeks and it can be very overwhelming. For many students, this is their last round of finals -- the last hurdle between themselves and their degree. Others have just begun their journey in higher education, and finals are what will make or break their GPA for the next three years. No matter where you are working towards your degree, finals week is stressful. Even if you’ve been putting in the work all semester, finals can get the better of you. This is the most stress inducing time for college students around the world but there are a few easy ways to manage that stress: Exercise! I know it’s a lot easier to stay home and become a couch potato, but even minimal exercise can be good for your mental health. Escape from the fluorescent lighting of your dorm room and take a walk. You’ll release endorphins and also get a nice break from studying. Keep up with

  Everyone deserves the chance to pursue a degree, regardless of economic background. However, too many people are forced to leave school or are never able to begin school due to their financial status. Many of these people grew up below the poverty line with parents who were also never able to receive their degree. Without any assistance, they and their children will also live in poverty. And thus, a vicious cycle continues. In the wake of this systemic issue, organizations have sprung up with the intention of providing assistance to underprivileged students. Amongst them is Wayne State University’s HIGH (Helping  Individuals Go Higher) Program. The HIGH Program was founded by WSU’s very own first lady, Jacqueline Wilson, in 2013. This program was founded with the goal of helping financially stressed individuals receive a degree and break the cycle of poverty. First Lady Mrs. Wilson didn’t want students to have to choose between funding their education and necessities, so the HIGH

  Food insecurity in the United States has seemed like an insurmountable problem for so long, despite the amount of surplus food large companies throw away every year. In the US alone, 108 billion pounds of food are wasted every year, amounting to about 40% of the food in the country . The majority of this food is wasted by businesses, who can’t sell nearly as much food as they order. A good many organizations have stepped in to try and redistribute this surplus food, including Forgotten Harvest . Founded in 1990, the mission of Forgotten harvest is to rescue food surpluses and make them accessible to people with food insecurities.  Forgotten Harvest delivers food directly to families living in the greater Metro Detroit area who are facing food insecurities. Through this program, hundreds of families have been fed and are able to live without wondering where their next meal will come from. By Celeste Holmes

  Adjusting to university life can be a struggle, especially when you’re stuck living in a room that feels a little like a cardboard box. Unfortunately, college students don’t always have a high decorating budget, so every day you come home to a frustratingly bland bedroom. However, there are some budget friendly ways to decorate your new home, or even just add a few personal touches. Create a Photo Wall A great way to add a bit of personal flair to a room without breaking the bank is to create a photo wall. Photo prints are surprisingly affordable, and one picture doesn’t cost more than a few cents. If you have a few nostalgic pictures that you would like to display in your room, the easiest and cheapest way to do so is to hang a photo wall. The best part about the photo wall is that it reflects you, your life and your experiences. Build a Temporary Headboard I know this sounds complicated, but it truly is incredibly simple. All you need is a piece of cardboard, some fabric, and s

  Being a college student can be difficult. There are many stressful days and late nights in undergrad, which only seems to get worse as you near graduation. While being a student is stressful, being a student with children is even more taxing. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 22% of all undergraduate students are parents , about 1 in 5 students. Being a parent isn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination, and parents who are students often find themselves in need of additional support. The Detroit Parent Network , or DPN, is a nonprofit that seeks to provide that additional support to parents. This organization was founded in 2002 to assist low-income families in Detroit, primarily by creating a network of parents who become a shoulder to lean on. DPN works with children up to the third grade to increase literacy and enrich their education, as well as holding support groups for parents and grandparents raising their grandchildren. Due to COVID-19, DPN also h

  TikTok is by no means a new platform, but the popularity of the app absolutely skyrocketed during the initial lockdown in March of 2020. High school teens, college students, and working professionals alike have taken to the app to share their talents, experiences, and expertise throughout the pandemic. Working professionals on TikTok can be quite the asset, and have made TikTok into a valuable resource for its users. These professionals offer free advice for their followers and the general public, and while in some cases you should still seek assistance in person, these nuggets of information are incredibly helpful for those who can’t afford it. While some of us use TikTok purely for fun, they use it to spread information and advice. Knowing and understanding the law can be difficult without consulting a lawyer, something that can be incredibly expensive. TikTok has quickly become the platform of choice for many lawyers, who seek to assist the general public in understanding many di

  As a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting homeless or precariously housed students, we at the HIGH program feel it is a necessity to promote other non-profits with the aim of assisting the under privileged. Weekly, we will put a spotlight on organizations that are providing resources to those in need across the state.     Across the nation there are a good deal of crises that plague the lower class, and a multitude of organizations are scrambling to remedy these issues.     For instance, h ealthcare in the United States can be astronomically expensive for the uninsured. It can be difficult to even get a doctor to see you if you aren’t insured or if you don’t have good insurance. This is a problem that clinic directors from Michigan and Illinois recognized in 1996 when they came together to form the Free Clinics of the Great Lake Region (FCGLR).  The FCGLR was a seven state network of about 250 free clinics. Four years later in 2000, Michigan clinic directors created a subse

  In the last year, thousands nation-wide have lost their jobs and been evicted from their homes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of this, homelessness is on the rise and many states do not have adequate resources to assist those who have been displaced. However, most states did not have the resources to assist their pre-COVID homeless population and have neglected the issue for decades. The leading causes of homelessness in the United States are a lack of affordable housing; unemployment; poverty; mental illness and the lack of needed services; and substance abuse and the lack of needed services. Rather than addressing the issues that cause homelessness directly, many US states have opted to circumvent them and prioritize the aesthetic of cities over the wellbeing of homeless citizens. Hostile architecture, or more specifically anti-homeless architecture, was born from this circumvention. While cities funnel money away from social programs to assist the homeless, they pour mo

     On April 28, 2021, I received the first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. By this time there was already a great deal of misinformation and speculation surrounding the vaccine. Conspiracy theories and criticisms about the vaccine have taken on a life of their own, and many have adopted unfounded beliefs to do with the shot. Still, despite the controversy, I still elected to receive both doses of the Moderna vaccine. The process was very simple for both shots -- I walked onto the test site, filled out a few forms, received my shot, and waited 15 minutes. I didn’t have any adverse side effects, so I was free to go after the 15 minutes had passed. Overall, the entire process was maybe 25 minutes. Some of the potential side effects of the vaccine include redness, swelling, and soreness at the site of the vaccine. Throughout the body there is the potential for tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, fever, and nausea. These side effects can be worse after the second dose of e

The pandemic has seen to the rise of many ways to make a quick buck, be it grifting, scams, or investing. The latter has caused quite a stir in the marketplace, as first-time investors flooded trading apps such as Robinhood and Coinbase in the last few months.  In January of 2021, the reddit thread titled r/WallStreetBets hinted to its 2 million subscribers that major investors were betting on video game company Game Stop going bust. Major investors shorted Game Stop stock (this is when an investor borrows a stock, sells it, then buys it back to return it to the lender) with the hopes of seeing it collapse and to make a profit from the stock’s low price. Investors began to short more stocks, resulting in more short positions than actual shares. This resulted in a huge demand and low supply. Realizing this, r/WallStreetBets subscribers decided to buy the stock and hold it, causing the price to go up. This is called a short squeeze, where people with shorts desperately try to buy up the