For senior journalism major Madilyn Coyne, her ambition to excel academically has shaped her college experience since childhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy parents had instilled in me from a young age that I should be the best at anything I go after. I’ve just always had that mindset. You can’t be afraid to fail, and I hate failing,\u201d said Coyne.<\/p>\n
Coyne is the president of the Society of Professional Journalists and sole political host of “Inside the Issues\u201d for MCTV Newscast within Texas Tech\u2019s College of Media & Communication.<\/p>\n
On top of her leadership roles and full-time coursework, she is managing editor of the West Texas Watchdogs News Service, co-founder and director of marketing and sales at Retriever Technology and a former White House Intern for the Office of Presidential Correspondence.<\/p>\n
Her packed schedule reflects a pattern often leading to burnout \u2014 a prolonged and intense state of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion caused by prolonged stress and unsustainable workload, according to a RISE blog post.<\/p>\n
Coyne said that by joining organizations and getting involved on campus, students can open doors to valuable connections, resume building opportunities and hands-on experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you graduate, just having a degree on your resume is not going to get you those good jobs that you want,\u201d Coyne said.<\/p>\n
She noted that her own achievements come from never turning down an opportunity and pursuing every chance to advance her journalism career, a mindset she believes helped her land a White House internship last summer.<\/p>\n
Coyne leans into the hustle-culture mentality, promoting the idea that there’s always more to chase: more money to earn, bigger titles to secure and a higher ceiling to break.<\/p>\n
Elisabeth Herring, a senior journalism major from Austin, said she\u2019s experienced feelings of senioritis in the last couple of weeks as demands on her schedule continue to pile up.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy workload just piles on top of one another, and it\u2019s just kind of like a constant thought in the back of my mind: \u2018I’ve got to get something done,\u2019 or \u2018I’ve got something that’s due really soon,\u2019 and I definitely think it makes an impact,\u201d Herring said.<\/p>\n
Herring is a student assistant at MCTV Newscast, a Dean\u2019s Student Ambassador under the College of Media & Communication, leads the live weather segment for KTXT-FM The Raider\u2019s morning show \u201cGood Morning Texas Tech\u201d and a member of the Feral Cat Coalition.<\/p>\n
She said she feels pressure to stay constantly busy from within herself, along with the abundance of opportunities available at her college, wanting to dip her toes in every pool possible and take advantage of experiences she won\u2019t have after graduation.<\/p>\n
As hustle culture focuses on quantity rather than quantity, the relentless focus on output stifles creativity and innovation among students.<\/p>\n
The overwhelming number of opportunities that divide students\u2019 attention not only troubles students, but causes the core lessons taught to be overshadowed, according to Advances in Consumer Research.<\/p>\n
While keeping an ambitious mindset, Herring has still had to turn down certain opportunities or organizations she\u2019d hoped to join to avoid burning out.<\/p>\n
Herring lives by a work hard, play hard mindset. If she finishes her tasks by Friday, she lets herself truly enjoy the weekend, whether that\u2019s taking a lazy day, going to a football game or doing an activity that recharges her batteries.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can do whatever you put your mind to, but also, everyone’s only human and everyone only has a certain bandwidth,\u201d Herring said.<\/p>\n
Hustle culture is the primary driver of academic<\/p>\n
burnout, leading to a mental health crisis among students, marked by elevated rates of anxiety, depression and chronic stress, according to Advances in Consumer Reach.<\/p>\n
If a student is experiencing burnout and needs help getting and staying on the right track, they can visit Risk Intervention & Safety Education Raider Recharge at Drane Hall, Room 247, or call 806-742-2110.<\/p>\n
For students seeking to become more informed about mid-semester slumps or burnout, RISE offers a blog post on its website that explains the differences, highlights the signs and provides practical strategies for support.<\/p>\n