Issue 11, Volume 91

High health insurance costs push graduate students into advocacy

KAREN WEI NEWS ASSISTANT EDITOR

@KAREN_FEIWEI

Struggling to shoulder the full cost of health insurance, graduate students are turning to organizing and advocacy to protest their work conditions.

When fifth-year chemistry doctoral candidate and international student Y.A.M., whose name is withheld to protect her identity, came to UH, health insurance was not top of mind. She expected to pay a few hundred dollars per semester. Instead, she was charged more than $1,000 each semester for the University health insurance plan, which is mandatory for international students.

“Once I realized how much I was going to be paid and how little I was going to be paid, that’s when I thought maybe I should have gone somewhere health insurance would be covered,” said Y.A.M. “I don’t know if I would have changed my mind because UH is a very good school, but maybe.”

Unlike other Texas flagship universities, UH does not subsidize health insurance for graduate student employees.

Y.A.M. said what is especially frustrating is that when safety incidents occur in chemistry labs, workers’ compensation, not student health insurance, covers the costs.

“In that case, what was the purpose of having health insurance at all?” Y.A.M. said. “If it’s not covering these kinds of work issues, you’re just forcing a student to pay money back into the institution that’s barely giving them anything.”

Without financial aid from TAFSA, she said she does not know how she would manage.

For third-year mathematics doctoral candidate Ricardo Gloria, it is simply difficult to “make a life here in Houston.”

“The rents are really high near UH. If you want to get a car, it’s expensive,” Gloria said. “At the same time, if you don’t have a car, you need to live somewhere where the rent is really high. The money’s not enough.”

Although graduate students across departments attempted advocacy efforts, none were successful in moving the needle with the administration.

As a result, fifth-year mathematics doctoral candidate Łukasz Krzywon said Graduate Student Solidarity, along with the Graduate & Professional Students Association, became the primary driver behind the Cover Care for Coogs campaign.

“The goal of GSS was to say, all you graduate students across the University and all of the colleges, this is an issue that’s affecting most of us,” Krzywon said. “The goal is to get everyone together from across the University to help each other out and pressure the University to do the right thing.”

GSS efforts culminated in a Feb. 17 press conference held with the GPSA. Third-year history doctoral candidate Seth Uzman delivered opening remarks rejecting what he described as a two-tiered health care system for domestic and international students.

Organizers criticized not only the financial strain graduate students face but also what they described as an atmosphere of fear on campus.

“The University exploits international student labor and yet does not create an environment in which the majority of the graduate student body can feel safe to exercise agency, to advocate, to organize,” Uzman said. “Anytime there is activism around this issue, anything that the University is seeing is really only the tip of the iceberg.”

The campaign has drawn faculty support, including from history professor David McNally, who spoke at the press conference.

“If everyone self-censors, if everyone decides they’re not going to speak out, then those who are trying to repress free speech are winning, aren’t they?” McNally said. “My own view is that these are exactly the moments in which we must speak up. And I’m a senior scholar, not a young untenured faculty member. If I won’t speak out, what does that say to my younger colleagues?”

McNally said the Cover Care for Coogs campaign has the “moral right” on its side and that it is the administration’s “moral duty” to address students’ concerns.

“One of the things that can happen when you are in your plush offices in administrative quarters is that you lose sight of the priority that your students and your faculty ought to be for your operation,” McNally said. “You start to treat requests and even demands from your own constituencies as a nuisance, as voices to be shut down. It’s a very, very bad practice for senior administrators, and I hope they’ll get out of their silos and begin to listen to what their own graduate students are saying.”

Y.A.M. said there is a stereotype that graduate students are “scrappers,” whose research brings acclaim to the University, but who can endure financial strain temporarily before leaving.

“I think they think everything’s going to be okay, and if there’s any problem, then they can suffer for a couple of years and then get out and they’ll get a good job,” Y.A.M. said. “So it just gets passed on to the next generation, and the next generation after that. The root of the bigger problem is that abuse is okay because it’s temporary.”

Graduate students, organizers say, are indispensable to UH’s growth.

“In order for UH to see itself as a competitive University on par with A&M, UT and others, which I think it’s trying to do, this is definitely a necessary step,” Walker said. “Until then, it’s just construction projects and celebrations. A University without nice buildings is still a University, but a University without grad students is a collection of donors or something.”

Many of the current organizers may not see the results of their advocacy during their time at UH. For now, they say they are speaking for those who cannot.

“I am proud to wear a UH t-shirt and talk about UH and promote it,” Y.A.M. said. “I love the lessons I’ve learned here. With that said, I also have no problem discussing the issues that should be improved. If I’m going to talk well about my school, I want to be able to minimize the amount of flaws over time, and that starts by actually voicing them.”

The Cougar has chosen not to release identifying information on sources due to safety concerns and a student media alert from the Student Press Law Center.

news@thedailycougar.com

UHPD opens substation at Welcome Center

CELENE BOURESLAN

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

@CELENE_BOURESLAN

On Jan. 20, UHPD inaugurated a new police substation in the Welcome Center retail space facing Martin Luther King Boulevard.

The substation was opened to provide a convenient location for students, faculty and staff to connect directly with UHPD.

“As part of our long-term effort to strengthen campus security, the substation will increase officer presence, improve response times and make it easier for community members to connect directly with UHPD,” said chief of police Ceaser Moore.

The substation is part of the University’s ongoing plan to improve campus security and address student concerns.

Over the past year, the University has added 80 safety and security personnel to increase on-the-ground coverage, upgraded and repositioned more than 120 cameras for improved real-time monitoring, launched a project to enhance emergency call for assistance stations

across campus and accelerated a $21 million campus lighting project.

Some students said the University implements security measures only after incidents occur rather than taking preemptive action.

“The whole University wasn’t built yesterday so I feel like the UH has had ample time to think about what they could do to prevent offenses from happening to students,” said management information systems sophomore Asahbi Olaniyan. “But every attempt that they have made at increasing police and security presence has only been reactive and not ever preemptive.”

Over the past year, students have voiced concerns about campus safety, pointing to thefts and assaults that have left many feeling vulnerable, particularly during evening hours.

Some students also said the University appears to prioritize renovation projects over safety initiatives.

“It’s betraying because you pay all this money, you come here thinking it’s safe and they’re not putting priority on the things that matter, which is student safety,” said atmospheric science junior Virginia Davis. “They’re not prioritizing that enough. If that requires allocating more money toward that, then I think they should do that.”

UHPD said it remains committed to investing in the safety and well-being of students, faculty and staff and that the substation reflects that commitment.

news@thedailycougar.com

Behind the scenes of the Muslim Student Association’s annual Ramadan tent

KAREN WEI

NEWS ASSISTANT EDITOR

@KAREN_FEIWEI

Muslim Student Association organized the annual Ramadan tent for students to pray and break their fasts.

The tent is located next to the A.D. Bruce Religion Center and all students, regardless of religious affiliation, are welcome to join and spend time.

For most students, the communal aspect of the tent is its greatest strength, with roughly 400 students visiting every day.

“There aren’t many opportunities on campus for Muslims. In the past, you just go to the dining hall and then break your fast there and that’s it,” said biology senior Esa Mohammed. “One of the greatest things that MSA has done is making sure that everyone feels like they belong.”

Students believe that when it comes to Ramadan, it’s more than just fasting. Its about wanting to do things that are beneficial for the community as well.

The welcoming atmosphere is what makes MSA distinct, and officers try to recreate the same atmosphere that they experienced while attending an MSA event for the first time, said MSA socials officer and finance junior Sikandar Khan.

“One of the reasons why MSA really clicked for me is because when I went there, I didn’t have to put myself out there,” Khan said. “People came to me, said hi to me and engaged with me. That’s

RESOURCES

how I got comfortable talking there, sharing my feelings and having friends here.”

Khan often brings his non-Muslim friends with him when visiting the tent as well, trying to create a positive atmosphere.

Inside, the tent is not only bustling with students but also thoughtfully decorated, with drapes and curtain lights hung on the walls along with Persian carpets on the ground.

But setting up and maintaining the tent is no easy feat: behind the scenes is

a staggering amount of fundraising and coordination.

It costs roughly $60,000 to operate the tent each Ramadan, sourced not only through donors and sponsorships but also individual tabling events, bake sales, and crowdsourcing.

“It surprised me how mobile the community was, even the non-MSA community,” said Biology sophomore Amira Khattab. “Instead of buying your five-dollar matcha, do you want to just chip in five dollars for the tent? You don’t have to force anyone to do anything –

people just want to do it because they want to see other people benefiting.”

Some restaurants offered to cater food for free. Then, students worked in groups to pack, transport and set up food for the nightly iftar.

For Mohammed, sunset is the best time to visit the tent: it’s when the hard work of the day culminates in a shared prayer and meal.

“Around sunset is when you’ll see the community at large,” Mohammed said. “All the people are gathered here. So I think that’s one of the best times that you can come to observe the community at its peak.”

Fundraising for this year will continue until the last meal is given out. Khattab estimates that MSA has reached about three-quarters of its fundraising goal for this year, with about $12,000 left to go.

Everything from all the frenzy of planning to the countless hours of commitment to the stress of the process, is deeply worth it, said logistics coordinator for MSA and biology sophomore Zeyad Ibrahim.

“Whenever you see the results, all these people gathered together and smiling and laughing, it gives you the sense of accomplishment,” Ibrahim said. “We need to keep going, we can keep going because it’s actually working. It’s not for nothing.” news@thedailycougar.com

UH opens Cougar Parent and Family Engagement Center

ANJALI MARTINEZ

ASSISTANT EDITOR

NEWS

@ANGI3_M415

UH hosted an opening ceremony for the Cougar Parent and Family Engagement Center. The center is designed to create a space to support student parents, families and caregivers.

The opening was about honoring the past while building a support system for the growing population of student parents at UH, said Associate dean of students Dr. Jerell Sherman.

“We want to make sure students and families feel welcomed,” Sherman said. “To acknowledge the work of the people who came before us, and to engage with student parents and families.”

Sherman also emphasized research showing that a sense of student belonging and connection to their institution directly impacts retention and graduation- a contributing factor to student success and a priority for the center.

“Support, that’s what it’s all about,” Sherman said. “Any student, doesn’t matter what institution they’re at, they’re going to college to get a degree to work in their field of choice and improve the lives of themselves and their families.”

The center includes professional staff, administration, student support and assistants for visitors.

It also offers amenities such as a children’s learning center, Coog Cubs corner, coloring books, puzzles and snacks for kids.

The goal was to create a physical space for families on campus, said associate director of the Cougar Parent and Family Engagement Center Chelsea Blake. She described the office as an ‘office hug’ and emphasizes the importance of including parents and families in the college transition process.

“We understand this journey is new for students, but sometimes our families are like, ‘Well, it’s new for us too,” Blake said. “For our student parents, we know that is an underserved population, so we want to make sure we are creating a hub for them.”

For students at the event, the opening was about highlighting campus communities and systems.

“I was looking for an event just to check out and see what resources are here on campus,” said strategic communications sophomore Metzli Vega. “If I come to know somebody who needs this, I can spread the word so these organizations can expand.”

Students said the event reminded them of UH’s values and familial sense of belonging, helping them reminisce about the time spent at the Student Centers.

“I just realized from when I first came here, how much this space has really changed since my freshman year,” said biochemistry and biophysics junior Abigail Sapp. “Being here and seeing people I know really reinforces the feeling that UH is home.”

The center consolidates services supporting family and parent engagement

Cakes are lined up for the Cougar Parent and Family Engagement Center grand opening on Wednesday Feb 25, 2026, in Houston, Texas. | Raphael Fernandez/The Cougar

initiatives - reflecting the University’s ongoing commitment to holistic student support as well as aligning with the scope of services already offered, said Vice president for the division of student affairs Dr. Paul Kittle.

“The creation of the Cougar Parent and Family Engagement Center reflects something fundamental about who we are as a University,” Kittle said. “Student success is a shared effort, and the support of family and friends is foundational to that work.”

Kittle envisions the UH community integrating into the new space and

becoming a hub of collaboration, citing that student achievement occurs when a network of people who bring support is present.

“By opening this office, our message is straightforward: Families matter at the University of Houston. When we support families, we support students’ ability to persist, graduate and thrive,” Kittle said. “This space is a doorway between campus and home, a place where information, care and belonging come together.”

news@thedailycougar.com

sports

BASKETBALL

Record-Breaker: Emanuel Sharp’s career, success at Houston

MICAH CLAY

SPORTS EDITOR

@MC5_ONE

Houston’s senior guard Emanuel Sharp has become one of the most dominant and productive players for the Cougars. With his dominance, Sharp broke the all-time record for most 3-pointers made in the history of the Houston Cougars. Sharp did it like most elite shooters do: calmly, confidently and without hesitation. With this confidence, the Cougars are eyeing back-to-back national championship appearances and to win it all.

On Feb. 10, Sharp wrote his name in the record books by breaking the school’s record for most career 3-pointers made against the Utah Utes, when he went on to score 27 points with eight 3-pointers. This performance was a showcase of what Sharp has been doing this season: making clutch shots when needed and leading the Cougars.

When asked about the credit he gives to his coaches, teammates and his family, Sharp expresses gratitude for the opportunity they gave him to be where he is today.

“They spend so much time with me, especially (coach) Q. I probably spent the most time with coach Q to get me more disciplined with my shot,” Sharp said.

Standing at 6’3, Sharp has developed into a consistent shooter and a marksman behind the arc for the Cougars. However, his journey was not easy to conquer.

Sharp’s journey to being one of the most dominant guards in Houston started when he was a freshman, averaging only six points and two rebounds per game.

Despite the rough start, Sharp kept working and training to improve until the potential became consistency. In his sophomore year, Sharp went on to average 12.6 points, three rebounds and a steal per game, tripling his production from his freshman year.

In his junior year, Sharp kept the same drive with 12.6 points, three rebounds and an assist per game. Additionally, Sharp, along with the Cougars, reached the national championship but ultimately fell short to the Florida Gators.

With the goal of returning to the national championship back on his mind, Sharp averages a career high 16 points, three rebounds and two assists per game in his senior year. He and his team showcased success and dominance in the 2025-2026 season, while aiming for a deep push in March.

Beyond the points, Sharp’s impact shows up in times when it doesn’t appear on the stats. Whether he is facilitating the offense or sprinting back on defense,

Sharp has showcased responsibility in head coach Kelvin Sampson’s system. His maturity, body language and patience have earned the Cougars’ trust in his ability to score or hit a tough shot with the game on the line. Sharp’s commitment has taken Houston from a team with immense talent to one with the maturity to be a national champion.

Despite his success, the Cougars have been challenged by teams like the No. 2 Arizona Wildcats, No. 14 Kansas Jayhawks, and No. 4 Iowa State Cyclones. However, Sharp never backed down from these obstacles and rose to the occasion.

Coach Sampson has relied on Sharp’s experience and ability to score wherever he wants in tough games.

Sharp’s resume is one full of success, determination and resilience. However, instead of saying it was a solo act, he says it was a team effort that brought him where he is today. “It was not a solo job,” Sharp said. “I’ve had all types of players and teammates that put me here. So I don’t like to take all the credit.”

Now, as a senior, Sharp has taken the role of a leader and reliable playmaker for his team. With his name on the alltime 3-point list in Houston, Sharp is looking beyond the regular season and back to where he was last year at the national championship. Regardless of

the outcome, Sharp’s career is one for the record books, and he’s not finished with his story yet.

sports@thedailycougar.com

Winning with a message: Cougars dominate the Buffaloes 102-62 at home

DAVID SOTO STAFF WRITER

The Cougars men’s basketball team faced off against the University of Colorado Buffaloes.

The effort was tremendous on the part of the home team as Houston was looking to bounce back from a gauntlet where they suffered three losses against three highly competitive programs that seemed winnable if not for a little bad luck.

This time, the Coogs did not disappoint and seemed to be back in championshipcontending form, with Houston outscoring Colorado most of the game and the final score being a dominant 102-62.

Going into this matchup, Houston junior forward Joseph Tugler was named a candidate for the 2026 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year following last season, where he was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and won the Lefty Driesell Award

as the nation’s top defender.

Freshman guard Kingston Flemings continued to live up to the hype and is already in consideration for some prestigious accolades, being included on both the Bob Cousy midseason Top 10 list as well as the Wooden Award midseason watch list.

SLAM magazine was also present at the game, taking photos of the team and the fans in the “Cage” as well as releasing some epic merchandise showcasing their upcoming featurette.

Game Recap

The game started off a bit sluggish, with the Coogs starting with some unlucky shots and allowing the Buffaloes to take the lead early, 10-2 at the 17-minute mark in the first half.

However, things started to heat up with Houston senior guard Milos Uzan leading the team in scoring, going 5-7 from downtown

and 9-13 shooting for a total of 26 points, beginning an unstoppable run. Houston graduate center Kalifa Sakho scored at the 13:15 mark to take the first lead of the game, with the Cougars never looking back from there.

Things got a little heated near the end of the first half, leading to Colorado head coach Tad Boyle being hit with two technical fouls, resulting in an ejection, along with Assistant Coach Nate Tomlinson being given a technical as well.

In the end, Houston had solid performances across the board with almost everyone on the team playing at least 10 minutes, scoring double digits.

Tugler chipped in with 14 points in 19 minutes of play; fan-favorite senior guard Emanuel Sharp putting up 10 points; Flemings with 11 points off 4-5 field goals along with an amazing six rebounds and eight assists; freshman center Chris Cenac

Jr. going six to eight totaling 12 points; freshman forward Chase McCarty with 10 points; sophomore guard Mercy Miller with 10 points and eight rebounds and finally Sakho finishing with nine points on 4-5 field goals and four rebounds.

Colorado star guard Barrington Hargress was held to a timid six points and five rebounds, with fellow freshman guard Isiah Johnson leading the team with 19 total points scored, hitting 2-4 from the threepoint line and going 7-9 in the paint.

Colorado’s junior forward Bangot Dak was the Buffaloes’ second leading scorer with 15 points on 6-12 shooting and sophomore forward Sebastian Rancik chipping in with 11 points off 3-4 field goals.

UH will face the Baylor Bears on Wednesday, March 4 for their final home game.

news@thedailycougar.com

SPORTS

For the city: UH basketball leads school pride across Houston

KELSEY WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER

@KELSEY_WILLIAMSON_

School spirit in college is a sort of culture. Pride in one’s institution brings all students together. It can fuel a sense of belonging in places that are populated with thousands and feel so huge.

Most of the time, college school spirit has a lot to do with having a good sports team. It puts the school’s name out there as they are being discussed across the nation.

A good team gives a lot of bragging rights and gives students something to champion. It also gives the surrounding population, who may not attend the school, something to root for.

At UH, our basketball team is what drives the most school spirit. As a heavy commuter school, going to class and then going straight home with little campus involvement is very normalized. This results in indifference towards our school and a lack of school pride overall. However, in the months of basketball season, there’s a different energy emerging from our student body. This culture and collective identity, which can be seen at other large schools, is suddenly beaming at UH.

HISTORY

Basketball is all anyone can talk about. With our team making the championships last year, the excitement going into this season felt bigger than ever.

So far, the team has won 27 out of 29 games and is ranked seventh in the Associated Press Top 25 Men’s College Basketball Poll. People post about this all over their social media accounts and talk about it nonstop.

The Fertitta Center holds soul during each game. The beautiful, bold red that is painted on most surfaces highlights so much UH character. The stands are always packed with people cheering for our team.

The Spirit of Houston with its outstanding music and performances fuel passion and excitement. Being so close to the court and experiencing the magic that the basketball team and fans create is an experience like no other.

This energy isn’t just trapped in there, though. It bleeds out across campus and into all of Houston. Last year during March Madness, it seemed like the whole city was thrilled about UH basketball. Restaurants and bars were hosting watch parties, the support for UH felt bigger than ever.

UH basketball often uses the slogan “For the City,” which connects our culture here at UH to Houston’s broader culture.

The team prides itself on representing our school and our city, unites UH and Houston as one. This has really brought out how supportive our Houston community is and how we always show out for each other.

UH as a whole can sometimes feel hard to belong to. Having spirit and pride about our school is starting to change that though. The basketball team and all their successes have motivated our students and the whole city to get up and scream “Go Coogs” in all settings.

School spirit allows people to let their

school become a part of their identity. This culture can extend across generations, and our basketball team is influencing this immensely.

Our student population and successes continue to grow every day. Having school spirit and feeling a sense of pride when you say you go to UH is special. Hopefully, the basketball team continues to see success, our student body grows in school spirit, and UH as a whole continues to achieve.

opinion@thedailycougar.com

When peaceful protest meets violent reality: A desensitized America

MARIA

KRYLOVA

STAFF WRTER

@PAPAS_MARIARIA

“There’s no such thing as nonviolent resistance.”

This past Black History Month, many people remembered Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous words, spoken in his 1957 sermon in Montgomery, Alabama. These words echo the sentiments to remember that an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

From an early age, students are taught to value compromise and peaceful protest as the primary and most legitimate ways to resist injustice.

Historical figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi are widely emphasized in educational curricula for their commitment to nonviolent resistance. While movements involving armed resistance are discussed less frequently or in less depth.

For example, maroon communities, groups of formerly enslaved people who escaped and organized resistance against plantation systems, are not always explored extensively in standard curricula. Similarly, the Black Panther Party is often presented in limited or simplified ways.

The way these histories are presented can shape broader perceptions about which forms of resistance are remembered, emphasized and considered legitimate.

When suffering became strategy King is the very face of nonviolent resistance, famous for his use of civil disobedience and preaching for peace. During the many marches and sit-ins King

organized, he instructed protesters not to fight back when attacked by police or angry white bystanders. He also ensured there were plenty of photographers on the scenes to document the beatings and police brutality that inevitably occurred.

This strategy of gaining public sympathy via media attention culminated in the Children’s Crusade in 1963. King’s campaign was beginning to stagnate; adults were reluctant to protest for fear of losing their jobs. It was James Bevel, another civil rights strategist, who proposed the solution: using children.

King initially opposed the idea, but he ultimately approved it. On May 2, 1963, thousands of African American children walked out of school to be handcuffed, blasted with fire hoses and set upon by police dogs.

This is where the famous photograph was captured that changed everything. It shows a 15-year-old boy caught mid-step with the jaws of a German Shepherd inches from sinking into his belly. Its leash is held by a white cop, whose hand is fisted in the boy’s knit sweater. The street is crowded; many dark faces turn to look at the scene, but nobody goes to help. The boy does not fight back. The violence was the point.

This image was published in newspapers around the world. The outrage it sparked paved the way for the desegregation of Birmingham and, eventually, the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

It resulted from the strategic choice to have children be brutalized on camera, and it worked. But what it really shows is that there is no such thing as nonviolent resistance. There is only a question of who

is experiencing the violence, the people doing the oppressing or the people forced to endure it.

Nonviolence in the modern era

Of course, peaceful methods for resolving conflict should always be tried first, and they can work if those in power are receptive to change. But how can we turn the other cheek in a country where selfishness and cruelty are rewarded with power?

In the United States, it seems like protest alone is no longer enough to force meaningful change. Hunger strikes and even extreme acts of self-sacrifice in support of Palestine have captured attention, but the policy outcomes remain unclear.

Videos of immigration enforcement and detention practices circulate online constantly, yet detention centers continue to expand, including in Texas. Images of children in detention centers have become some of the defining photographs of our generation. Yet public outrage often struggles to translate into lasting action. Over time, the shock fades, and what once sparked national attention becomes normalized.

King’s philosophy showed the power of nonviolent resistance, but it also depended on the public’s willingness to confront injustice and respond.

Today, that response feels less certain, and it forces us to question what meaningful resistance looks like in a time when awareness does not always lead to change.

opinion@thedailycougar.com

life and arts

BUSINESS

April’s angle: Burnout is not a badge of honor

Lily Huynh/The

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

@ITZ_APRULLL

Hi! Welcome to another issue of April’s Angle! I’m April, a political science and psychology sophomore. I share my thoughts on everything from fashion and beauty to college life and beyond. If you have any questions or need advice on any topic, I’m here to help!

The path to higher education can be gruesome. Long nights, running on caffeine, no social

life – your life might feel like a simulation stuck on repeat. This ultimately might cause burnout, a very real mental state that can make or break your experience.

Some people aim to avoid burnout, rushing to reverse damage with some self-care treatments, but others find themselves seemingly thriving on burnout.

Falling into rapid cycles of overworking themselves, but getting validation from grades or even other peers. Do not

be fooled, this strategy might work now because you’re “great under pressure” but when that pressure turns into longterm exhaustion, things start spiraling south.

Somewhere along the path to higher education, exhaustion might start to seem like a flex. It is imperative that you avoid this trap. When it starts to feel like everyone around you is comparing study times, how long they stayed up last night or how many energy drinks they’ve had before 10 a.m., you need to recognize how unhealthy these habits might be.

Just because they seem to work for others does not mean it has to work for you. I personally pride myself on prioritizing my sleep and health, while also staying on top of classes and working 20 hours a week.

Missing a few days of sleep to study or depending on energy drinks aren’t necessarily the issues, but normalizing this behavior and encouraging others to do the same is where it

gets dicey.

If you do find yourself depending on the same vices, it’s important that you recognize this and begin choosing healthier habits before a commitment as intense as grad school.

Healthier habits like time management and discipline can help you get back on track. Do not treat rest like a reward rather than a necessity, overextending yourself to perform better isn’t necessarily a sign of your inability to balance, but it can be a sign of fear to slow down at the expense of looking less driven.

Finally, you should know that school doesn’t magically teach balance, it amplifies whatever patterns you bring with you. So begin practicing sustainability now, learn how to rest without guilt, it will do you more good than you know. Burnout isn’t a badge of honor, it’s a signal. news@thedailycougar.com

WENDOLEE T. GARCIA MARTINEZ News Editor

EDITORIAL BOARD

EDITOR

Interacting, socializing, participating and doing your part will lead to interesting encounters. Commitments can be put into action to ease your mind and give you hope for a brighter future. Focus on precision, not spontaneity. Time is on your side; call the shots.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) -- Let kind gestures be your calling card. How you treat others will set the stage for what you receive in return. A positive lifestyle change will promote unique encounters and unexpected offers.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) -- Give yourself time to rejuvenate. Delve into something you find relaxing and enjoyable. Use your creative imagination and put your talents to work for you.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -- Take care of small but essential details. Your patience and willingness to go the extra mile will win you well-deserved praise. Be honest with yourself about your happiness.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) -- Take charge, initiate change and focus on friendships, helping others and walking away from toxic situations. Take the plunge and do something that restores your faith.

CANCER (June 21July 22) -- Express yourself openly and make suggestions that help you gain recognition. A chance to expand your skills, interests and possibilities is heading your way.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- Put your energy where it brings the highest return. Learn something new, travel, communicate

and make special plans with those who inspire you to try new things and challenge you to grow intellectually.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- How you deal with people and respond to requests will influence your position and reputation among your peers. Step up and lead the way, and rewards will follow.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) -- Consider some of the suggestions you receive and offer your input to those you feel comfortable working with. If you mix business with pleasure, positive options and an acceptable offer will unfold.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) -- Attend functions that allow you to further your interests. Communication and learning are on the rise and will help you fine-tune

your skills to fill fastgrowing needs.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) -- Be careful what you share with whom. Someone will be eager to twist your words and put you in a precarious position. Strive for better health, less worry and a simpler lifestyle.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- You’ve got more going for you than you realize. Speak up, share your intentions and make plans that point you toward greater security. Home and self-improvements will give your life a positive spin.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20Feb. 19) -- Size up your situation, budget and the changes necessary to relinquish any doubt you have about your lifestyle and prospects. Invest in yourself, your health and your wealth.

ISSUE STAFF

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ABOUT THE COUGAR

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