5:25 am—Alarm goes off, press snooze. I lay in bed for a few more minutes before finally getting up. On my way to my d-hall work shift, I grab a bagel left from yesterday’s outtake, yum.
8:54 am—Be sure to clock out, say bye to Lyle before rushing to class in Bucksbaum. I will not be late today. When I get to class, I need to take a minute to check email.
9:15 am—Now that I’ve spent the first ten minutes of class looking over the reading assignment, I can probably contribute to the discussion, or at least answer a question.
9:50 am—Music Theory, complete, but the professor assigned another paper for next week. Now off to Carnegie for German.
11:15 am—After class, I meet with a professor to go over details for my upcoming presentation.
11:47 am—Walk as fast as humanly possible to beat the lunch rush in the dining hall.
12:30 pm—Finish lab prep that I forgot about last night just in time for lab at 1:15pm.
3:38 pm—Still in lab.
4:55 pm—Lab ran late again, crap. I’m going to be waaay late to meet up with my friends.
5:15 pm—Finally changed and ready to work out with some friends in Darby.
6:37 pm—Only 13 hours into the day, and its time for a warm relaxing shower to revive me.
7:10 pm—Dinner in the dining hall. Surprise, surprise… the turkey’s all gone. Late dinner sucks.
7:30 pm—Rush off to my banjo lesson. Almost late.
9:00 pm—Meeting above the grill. Captains need to plan for our upcoming community service event, but the first 15 minutes are consumed by unrelated banter. Since it’s been too many hours away from my computer, while we chat I check email, facebook, and maybe twitter.
10:17 pm—Hello Burling. First thing’s first: check my email.
11:59 pm—Not nearly as productive as I had hoped.
12:47 pm—Thinking about how exhausting today was while slowly drifting to sleep.

As Grinnellians, we tackle what seems like a million different things in one day. Why do we tend to overload our schedules with all of these amazing opportunities? For most of us it is because being a Grinnellian means taking on activities that truly interest us, and living out our quirky image of ourselves. Would you read the day’s activities above differently if you knew that the person was an active member in the music department? What if you knew the person was a senior? What if it was an athlete? Regardless of who exactly lived this day, as Grinnellians we can all relate. For us, days like this are the norm.

Many student-athletes chose to come to Grinnell because it granted us the opportunity to be many things and to thrive in a campus that encourages and appreciates the inherent diversity of the student body. While for us, one of our many activities and interests happens to be athletics, it is just the same as choosing to focus on music, theater, having a job, or being involved with the SRC or in SGA. By choosing to come to Grinnell we made the choice to invest ourselves in the culture and to adopt and embrace the identity of a Grinnellian. Athletics is something that we choose to take part in, but we are more than just athletes; we are musicians, artists, scientists, and scholars, things that we hold in as high—or higher— regard than being a student-athlete. Above all, we are Grinnellians, and that is what matters most.

We feel that after four years of living with some of these divides, and the stereotypes that they all too often invoke—of what it means to be an “athlete” or a “non-athlete”—we can say with heartfelt certainty that we don’t like it either. We are more than just athletes, and we want the campus to know that.

Sincerely,
Concerned Grinnellians:

I help educate elementary school students about the harms of bullying—Heather Kubicek, Women’s Soccer and Women’s Track and Field;
One day, I want to move to Africa— Morgan Bober, Women’s Swimming and Diving;
I want to spend my summer working ten hour days knocking on doors and making phone calls… campaigning!—Jayme Wiebold, Softball;
I am taking Hindi with the ALSO program—Hannah Colter, Women’s Cross Country and Track and Field;
I love to make art, especially Graffiti!—Brian Westerlind, Football;
My goal is to spend the next year working at a rehab clinic for people with traumatic and acquired brain injuries —Michael Cole, Men’s Tennis;
I enjoy sewing, knitting, and crocheting—Bridget Zajac, Volleyball;
I play the piano, harp, and organ, and I picked up cello this year—Sachi Graber, Women’s Cross Country and Track and Field;
I enjoy working with individuals with intellectual disabilities; I lead a group that goes bowling every Sunday—Ashley Jeannin, Women’s Basketball;
I love to dance/perform. Whether it is for an event such as the ISO cultural evening, making random videos, singing for the Gospel Choir or simply Harris… so let the music play on—Harpreet Singh, Men’s Football and Track and Field