Luke Pierce came all the way from Floresville, a small town in Texas, to attend William Jewell College. Many members of his family also attended the College, making Jewell a second home for Pierce. 

Besides being a student-athlete on the track & field team – where he runs the 400m, 200m and 4×4 relay – Pierce is a member of Tri-Beta Honor Society, writes for The Hilltop Monitor and is enrolled in 20 credit hours this semester. A typical Monday for Pierce is as follows:

7 a.m.: Wake up, shower, eat a big breakfast and look over homework

9 a.m.: Organic Chemistry class

10:15 a.m.: The Hilltop Monitor meeting, eat lunch and do a bit of homework 

11:15 a.m.: Microbiology class

12:30 p.m.: Physiology class

1:45 p.m.: Ecology class

3 p.m.: Undergraduate research meeting 

3:30 p.m.: Track practice. Pierce is typically 15 minutes late due to his research meeting, so he misses warmups. 

5 p.m.: Shower, decompress and plan for the evening

5:30 p.m.: Cook and eat dinner

7 p.m.: Homework 

12 a.m.: Go to bed to wake up for weights on Tuesday at 4:30 a.m.

It is undeniably hard to balance 20 credit hours of classes on top of being a student-athlete, but Pierce says it’s all about balance for him. 

“I have this philosophy: mind, body and spirit… I got into body first, and then I got to college and started working with the mind and now I’m working on the spirit part. Basically those three aspects, I try to make that my foundation. If I have that then I’ll get through anything else,” Pierce said. “If you get stressed out with this kind of schedule, you’re going to fail. You can’t go into 20 credit hours and go to practice everyday and lift weights twice a week and still make it. You have to look for a way to do it and that’s how I do it.”

Pierce’s balance between academics and sports keeps him very disciplined, even down to the meals he eats. But he insists that he likes his academic routine and that his regimen for staying healthy helps him think more clearly.

Through overcoming the challenges that maintaining academics and sports bring, Pierce says he feels more prepared for the future. He plans to go to dental school after taking a gap year. 

“It’s really made me look at myself and how I do things… I’m always looking to do things better. [Finding balance is] probably one of the hardest things I’ve done. But I want to go to dental school and you take a lot of credit hours at once so this is a good test to see how that would feel,” Pierce said. “And so far, it’s not bad. I’m doing how I thought I’d do, how I wanted to do. Grade-wise, physical-wise, where I am with jobs and dental school and all that stuff.”

Track meets start Jan. 16 during Pierce’s final semester, as he readies himself for graduation and running in his final college sports season.

Though Michaela Esau, junior Oxbridge literature & theory and communications major, did not start her college career as a student-athlete, she joined the William Jewell College tennis team this fall and has recently landed her first collegiate win. 

Besides being a college student-athlete, Esau balances being a tutor, a Cardinal Blazer, a member of Zeta Tau Alpha (ZTA) sorority and a writer for The Hilltop Monitor. A typical Monday for the involved student-athlete is as follows: 

7:45/8:00 a.m. – Wake up, get ready for the day and go to PLC to do homework for an hour 

9:30 a.m. – Give a tour for prospective students

10:15 a.m. – The Hilltop Monitor meeting 

10:45 a.m. – Eat lunch 

11:15 a.m. – Communication Research Methods class

12:30 p.m. – Do homework

1:45 p.m. – Plague, Piety, and Public policy class

2:50 p.m. – Get ready for practice

3:30 p.m. – Tennis practice 

5:30/6:00 p.m. – Shower and head to the cafeteria for dinner 

7:00 p.m. – Homework

8:00 p.m. – ZTA chapter meeting

8:45/9 p.m. – Homework

10:00 p.m. – Relax and hang out. 

11:30 p.m. – Go to bed 

Balancing school, extracurriculars and a job on top of being a college athlete is no small feat, but Esau considers the opportunity during the day to spend time outdoors playing tennis to be a welcome break.

“I have really enjoyed it because it is kind of impossible to spend all your time doing homework and so I would normally take a break anyway,” said Esau. “It is kind of a stress relief for me to have a period of time every day that I have to go outside and get some exercise.”

While Esau played tennis in high school, she had initially decided against playing it in college.  

“I decided against it, but at Jewell, I would always walk by the tennis courts and kind of miss it,” said Esau.

In spring 2020, some players on the Jewell tennis team had sustained injuries and the team was in need of players. Esau heard about the opening and decided to go for it. However, Esau’s new opportunity – as was the case for many student-athletes this year – was cut short. Esau was only able to have one practice during spring 2020 before the school shut down for quarantine. 

While the spring semester did not work out, officially joining the tennis team this fall has been a positive experience for Esau, and she thoroughly appreciates the positive and relaxed atmosphere of the team.

“We all obviously want to get better and we are competitive, but at the same time, everyone makes it fun. We are a pretty small team, so I like being able to get to know everybody,” said Esau.  

While Esau has only been consecutively practicing on the team since August, she landed her first collegiate win in a recent match against Concordia University. 

“I’m kind of just doing this for fun so to also win sometimes is a really good feeling,” said Esau. “I haven’t been playing competitively for the past three years, so it felt weird to get back into competing. But everyone at Jewell has been really supportive and super excited about it.”  

My name is Antonio Porter Jr., and I am a member of the track and field team at William Jewell College. I chose Willam Jewell because it has a good balance between sports and education. It is also closer to my daughter’s family. Have you ever wondered what the life of a college athlete is like? Let me explain…

I wake up at 7:30 a.m. to do some ab work and two hundred pushups, then head to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I turn on my morning tunes – which consist of RodWave, Lil Baby, and sometimes 90s classics – and proceed to hop in the shower. After getting out of the shower, I get dressed and, by 8:20 a.m., I am filling up my water bottle and grabbing a yogurt, granola bar and two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. By 8:50 a.m. I am parking my car and heading to my first class of the day: identity and society. It’s a great class. By 10:05 a.m. class is over, and I head to my car to eat my two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and knock out some homework. 

My next class is not until 12:30 p.m. The time arrives, and we have French class. Comment allez vous? Bien, merci. Au revoir, Madame! Class is over at 1:35 p.m., and I head to math for the liberal arts from there. I learn about proportions and how to apply math in our everyday lives. Class ends at 2:50 p.m. From class I drive over to the Mabee Center. I change into my clothes for practice, heat up my legs, roll out with a foam roller and then apply IcyHot from my thighs to my ankles. 

3:30 p.m. hits, and it’s time for practice. Two warm up laps, warm up stretches (A skip, B skip, etc.) followed by 50-meter strides. Then onto hill runs: 40, 30, 20 and 10 second runs up a hill. Repeat that three times for a total of 12 runs. I barely survive practice, but somehow we all have the energy to jog a lap, cool down and stretch out. We then proceed to tell each other kind things and words of encouragement before concluding practice. GO CARDS!!! 

I get home around 6:00 p.m. to rest and have a light snack. Then, I spend time with my daughter and talk about her day before heading back to the gym at 7:00 p.m. At the gym I focus on legs and shoulders. I leave the gym around 9:00 p.m. when it closes. I get home and get in the shower. Once out of the shower I drink a protein shake and eat some pasta. I then proceed to clean my room from the mess I made in the morning before beginning homework. I spend more time with my daughter before bed time at around 12 a.m. I wake up at 4:50 a.m. for weights at 5:30 a.m. on campus, and another day begins…

In light of the current pandemic, everyone is doing their part. For some, that means staying home, but not everyone has that luxury. Those who work at hospitals, grocery stores and banks must continue to work during this time, as they are essential.

Madison Lott, senior elementary education major, is one of those essential workers. Lott works at Cosentino’s Price Chopper in Kansas City, where she is the supervisor in the customer service department.

One of her many duties is floorwalking, where she helps cashiers and customer service with any issues that may arise. She is also in charge of which cashiers go on break, which employees are bringing carts in from outside and other administrative tasks.

Another important duty Lott has is counting all the money that comes into the store, from lottery tickets to WICs to coupons. Lott said that even before the pandemic she was cautious about handling the money, but she is now much more careful. 

“I have this weird fear that me and my other coworkers in customer service will be the ones to catch it first, because of all the money and items we handle,” Lott said.

Lott also expresses her fear that if she or someone at her house gets sick, she must quarantine herself for two weeks, which would mean she would not be paid during that time. 

“That may not be a huge deal for some people, but as a college student that handles all their own bills and pays for their own schooling, that is a lot of money to lose out on,” Lott said.

As to what has changed throughout the store, Lott details an extensive list: reduced store hours and a one-hour shopping window for those more at risk, plexiglass coverings at every register and no returns or exchanges allowed. There are also now employees whose only job is to clean continuously. Additionally, customers have to walk a certain one-way path throughout the store, and the number of customers in the store at one time has been limited to 255. Each cart can only have one customer at it. 

Lottery tickets must be purchased from a machine now, and employees cannot touch customer’s Price Chopper cards. Masks and gloves have been given to employees if they wish to wear them. The deli’s buffet-style soup and salad bar have been closed.

Lott also said that the store is constantly out of items like toilet paper and cleaning supplies. The store now gets daily shipments of these items, but the shipments themselves are scarce. Before the pandemic there were just weekly shipments of these items, Lott detailed.

For Lott, a typical day before the pandemic included class from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., teaching clinicals from 1-3 p.m. and then work from 4-10:30 p.m. However, she no longer has clinicals, so her schedule is the same except she goes into work at 1 p.m. instead.

She also explained how understanding her managers are, as they know she is a full-time student. On weeks when she has tests and papers, Lott says that her managers reduce her hours to 30 instead of the usual 35-39.

As to how she keeps up with everything, Lott uses a detailed planner to keep her on a strict schedule. She also has a family that supports her, especially when she feels overwhelmed. Additionally, Lott makes sure to schedule time for herself, which usually includes walking her dogs.