Sophomore Anna Boardman often finds herself on the third floor of the library focusing on her academics. Outside the library, Boardman finds herself running heavy mileage as one of the lead runners for the women’s cross country team. 

As a student athlete, Boardman has to deal with the stress of taking hard classes and managing her workouts in order to stay in shape. This can often create stressful situations as the demand for both tasks is fairly high. In order to tame the stress that she deals with on a daily basis, Boardman tries to take each week one day, and one thing at a time.

Boardman is one of the many student athletes across campus who struggles with managing a varsity sport and academics. 

“I have to schedule out everything in order of importance, so I can get things done and keep myself on track,” Boardman said. 

Mental health is also one of Boardman’s priorities. On her days of practice, she finds herself focusing on herself and how she is feeling.

“I like to listen to podcasts or music, and I try to pick a running route that’s really pretty. I like doing this just to let myself calm down and come back to base,” Boardman said.

Junior Jordan Vesey manages his stress by having a calm morning routine, which involves meditation and stretching. Whenever he gets stressed out either on the field as a varsity football player or while taking a test in the classroom, he focuses on his breath. This helps him focus on the moment and helps to calm his nerves that build up. 

Vesey also arranges his weekend so that Sunday is the day in which he focuses on his school work. This way he is able to prepare for the week ahead in order to not be disorganized and unprepared. 

Office hours have also been very beneficial to both Boardman and Vesey. They find it is easy to schedule an appointment with their professors and ask for help when needed.

“I usually use office hours which help out a lot to stop in there and check my homework before class,” Vesey said.

Although both of them are busy with classes, they still manage to create time in their schedules for other extracurriculars. Vesey is also involved in Associated Colleges of Illinois (ACI) which is a club that gives minorities on campus an opportunity to come together and have interactive conversations with community leadership. The club often involves having guest speakers attend.

“The guest speakers give good advice or help them reflect or converse with each other,” Vesey said.

Boardman is part of the engineering club and is part of the executive board for it. The thing that helps her out the most is having an open line between her and the other members. 

Knowing how much you can handle is an important part of college because it’s easy to do too many things while also being a student athlete. Finding a way to stay calm can help keep a clear head. This is useful when looking at things long-term and short-term. Though the best thing to do is to establish boundaries in terms of how long you are studying for and when you need to study.

 “I need to set a clear boundary with myself and the people around me,” Boardman said.