It’s April and exam fever is running rampant among the Carleton student body. There are papers to be written and long nights in the library ahead. Most students are feeling as though they don’t have a second to spare. “It’s frustrating,” says first-year psychology student Devon Suggitt. “It just feels like there’s no way I’m going to get everything done on time.”

The feeling of being overwhelmingly busy is nothing new for third-year commerce student Yuliya Riabko.

Riabko is a mature full-time student, who also works part-time, volunteers on campus, and does daily bookkeeping. “Five classes a week is nothing,” she says.

Riabko lives with her family and works four days a week with them in their family store, Perogies Takeout. She says she decided to go to university and take commerce to help the business prosper.  

However, despite working with her family members, Riabko says she rarely gets to spend time with them as she spends most of her time at school.

Although Riabko only has two days of classes, into which she has packed four lectures, she says she can sometimes be on campus up to 35 hours a week. This is mostly because of the time she spends volunteering in extracurricular programs.  

Riabko is a mentor at the Student Success Office for first in the family students and takes notes for the Paul Menton Centre. She also volunteers for the Bill Ellis Centre for Mature and Part-Time Students (BECAMPS) and the Chabad Student Network.

She says she mostly does online advertising and marketing for the organizations’ events, and also works in the BECAMPS office.

Bookkeeping is another one of her major commitments. Riabko says she doesn’t mind the daily bookkeeping, but the tax season that takes over her reading week is more than a little stressful. “I don’t get any time to write any of my papers,” she says, “at least five days are entirely taken up by accountant work.”

While Riabko admits it is sometimes difficult to keep up with schoolwork, she says she sees absolutely no downside to being so busy.

“If you have to do something, then you have to do it. Being so busy helps me to not waste my time and to keep on track.”

To help her keep on track, Riabko says she keeps three agendas, has post-it notes on her laptop and has acquired impressive time management skills.

Because she lives with her family, including her sister’s two young children, she says she often stays at school until 10 or 11 p.m., and then comes home to study for a few hours while the children are in bed.

“It’s hard to tell my three-year-old niece that I can’t play right now,” she laughs.

Even when Riabko does get the chance to escape the books for a while, she doesn’t just lie around. She says that her break time is usually spent walking around shopping malls or baking cakes for her family. “I took a class in cake decorating last summer to keep myself busy, and I love it,” she says. “It’s something I do to keep my mind off of things for a while.”

However, even when she is in the midst of keeping track of her crazy schedule, Riabko manages to stay focused on what is important.  

“School is definitely my main priority,” she says. “My family is always reminding me that that’s what I’m here for.”

Riabko has similar advice for younger students who want to take on more commitments. “Don’t forget you are here to study,” she says, “but enjoy your time here. There’s no need to work too much now because that’s what the rest of your life will be: work, work, work!”