--Original published at Ariana's Blog

I chose to come to Elizabethtown College for many reasons. One is that the college offered the program I wanted in order to become an Occupational Therapist. I also was looking for a small school that felt like home and E-town felt like that. I also really enjoy having a good relationship with my teachers and I am grateful to not just be a number in a classroom. I also wanted to be away from home but close enough that I could go home when I needed to and E-town was the perfect distance.

My motivation for doing well in school is knowing that it will ultimately get me into my career and doing something I love. I have always been motivated to do well; I just care about my grades. I think seeing a C or lower motivates me to try harder, but I have never been one to not do my work or not study. When I study, I expect my hard work to pay off on the exam and if not, that means that I need to change my habits and try harder to get the grade up.

An intervention I can use until I graduate is to make a list. I am one of those people who loves crossing things off a list and I hate having things on my lists. When I have stuff to do, but I don’t feel like doing it, I can make a list for myself. This will increase my motivation to get those things crossed off the list. I also need to remind myself why I need to work hard and that these classes are only for a short amount of time, so I put the hard work in and then it’s done.

--Original published at Jill Distler's Psychology Blog

America is facing many health concerns within its population, obesity being the most concerning, in my opinion after parents and people who choose not to vaccinate. I also believe that those who are facing mental illness and are not seeking treatment is among other great concerns. I feel that only a portion of this criterion is enough to define the boundary between having a mental disorder and if a person is truly eating healthy. As someone who lives with a “gym rat” type parent, I can say that my mother fits the first criterion very closely. I would not call my mother someone with a mental disorder though, I just think she enjoys eating mostly salads so that she can compare the size of her arms to my boyfriend’s, and most of the time he wins but she brags about her veins “popping” more. I think that the criterion coming from this source has good intentions, but I feel that there is room for more definition throughout this website. Although this site chooses to include an excerpt from an original published article about Orthorexia Nervosa, I think an overall summary of the published science would have made me understand more deeply how one can determine if they are suffering from a behavioral disorder or if they are truly just trying to be healthy and prolong their lifespan. 

--Original published at Emily's college blog

In my opinion, the criteria for orthorexia in criterion A does not set a good boundary for mental illness or healthy eating because there is no time frame to define when this would be normal or out of control.  For example, if someone is insecure about their weight or health and they undergo a cleansing diet for a few weeks or a month, there is a possibility that after changing drastically from an unhealthy diet to a cleansing diet, the symptoms noted in criterion A are likely to come up.  However, if someone continues to feel these obsessive compulsives and anxiety from eating, there is a possibility for a mental illness diagnosis.  The people who wrote the concepts for criteria A should include a time frame for when the anxious feelings actually turn into a serious mental illness.  I believe that if these thoughts and beliefs cause a weight loss and continue to escalate in six months to a year, there should be a check up for orthorexia.

In Criterion B, I think the criteria listed are acceptable to distinguish the boundary between orthorexia and healthy eating.  Someone who is malnourished from severe weight loss would have started struggling with the compulsive behaviors and mental complications for a long period of time and should cause serious concern, especially if these actions are caused by a lack of body image, self-worth, identity, or satisfaction.  I believe that in order to diagnose someone with orthorexia, these criteria have to be met.  

--Original published at JanellesCollegeBlog

One of the largest reasons I chose Elizabethtown College was for my major. Occupational therapy is offered at a small number of colleges in Pennsylvania, all of which are private. Elizabethtown College’s occupational therapy program has a very good reputation. Another reason I chose Elizabethtown was because of the size of the college which creates a sense of community on campus. When I came to campus for tours I observed how many people the tour guides knew on campus. I also noticed how they interacted with professors. Even though student relationships with professors are professional, it was evident here professors truly care about how their students do. Another reason I chose Elizabethtown was the opportunity to continue playing field hockey. My college decision was not easy, but I am very happy with the choice I made.

One of the biggest motivations for me to do well in my classes is I am extremely excited for my future career. When I look to the future and what I will get to do, this makes it easier for me to work harder in my classes. I know if I am successful throughout my time at Elizabethtown it will make it easier for me to do well in the future when I am looking for a job.

To maintain this motivation until graduation I will look back to the adversity I have overcome to that point. During my first semester I took one of the most challenging classes in college, biology. After getting through biology, I believe I can make it through any class if I have the correct mindset and work ethic. I will also tell myself when my motivation runs low I am doing this to be successful in my future and obtain a job in a field I am very passionate about.

--Original published at Zach Nawrocki's Blog

There are multiple reasons that I chose to come to Elizabethtown College originally. One reason being that it is only about an hour away from where I live so if I need to come home for some reason whether that be an emergency, or I just want to go home for some reason I can. The main reason I came to Elizabethtown though is because it is a small school which allows for personal interaction with teachers and really getting to know the teachers where as at a big school you don’t get that type of personal interaction and you don’t feel as important.

One of the main things that I do to motivate myself is plan what grades I want to get for that semester and work hard to accomplish that goal. Another thing that I do to motivate myself is that if I do not do as good as what I wanted to do on an assignment or test I put it behind me because I can’t change the past, but I work even harder the next time to improve my grade and keep moving forward. This is the main type of motivation that I use because then if I do better it keeps me motivated to keep working that hard to keep my grades up.

One way to maintain my motivation to succeed until graduation is to keep planning goals for the grades that I want and to work hard to get those goals met. I also need to keep reminding myself of why I am working this hard to graduate and to remind myself I want to go for my master’s degree in biotechnology and possible my PhD., however that will not be possible if I don’t stay motivated and keep working hard to achieve my goals.