EDITOR’S NOTE: Holly Hall is a sophomore business leadership and management major from Armada, Mich. She wrote this blog post about her experiences at Alma College.
Hi! My name is Holly. I thought it would be interesting to show you what an average day in my life is like as a student at Alma College.
I started the day off going to Starbucks — we have a location right here on campus — to grab a bite to eat and a refresher before heading to my first class of the day. I’m a business leadership and management major, so right now I’m taking macroeconomics. After that class, I headed to my technical writing class. I like having my classes back-to-back, as I find it optimizes my time spent throughout the day. I also like getting my classes out of the way in the morning, so my afternoons are open for working, doing homework, playing sports and whatever else comes up.
After my classes, it was time for lunch. I headed over to the Greg Hatcher Learning Commons to grab some Qdoba. The Learning Commons is right in the “heart” of campus, so it’s really convenient to pop by when I need to refuel during a busy day. It helps that the Qdoba on campus accepts Munch Money, which is a helpful way to budget my food expenses.
I work in the college admissions office part-time. There are a lot of jobs for students on campus and they can be helpful for paying tuition or earning spare money. On this day, I was giving a tour of campus to a prospective student with a faculty member, Dr. Kristin Olbertson. Many of the prospective students who visit Alma choose to meet with coaches, staff and professors during their visit, so I often start my tours from different places all around campus.
I’m a member of the Scots’ tennis team, and after work, it was time for tennis practice at the Stone Center for Recreation. Even though it was the first official day of our spring season, the weather did not cooperate for us to practice outside. So, the Rec Center reserved indoor court space for the tennis program to practice and will keep these reservations for the first month of the season until the weather is nice enough for us to practice outside. The Rec Center is great about putting students first, and they ensure that their amenities are useful for students, as well as student-athletes.
I headed to Hamilton Commons, our dining hall on campus, after practice with my teammates to have dinner. It’s a great bonding experience to be able to eat almost every dinner with them, and we have made it a tradition to go after every practice. Many other sports teams also partake in this tradition, and you will even see sports teams eating breakfast and lunch together as well.
After dinner, I had cheer practice! In addition to the tennis team, I’m also a member of the cheerleading team. The cheer program at Alma is lucky enough to have their own practice space, known as the Sherman Cheer and STUNT Facility. It’s amazing to be able to walk into the cheer room and get right to work, and not have to worry about getting out the equipment or finding a space to practice.
After that, I went to the Loch Lomond Cafe to grab a post-practice “sweet treat.” I did not get out of cheer practice until after 9 p.m., and it’s very convenient that the cafe stays open late for student-athletes like me who practice into the night. On nights I don’t have practice, I still use the cafe to grab a snack while I am studying and hanging out with friends.
My life at Alma is busy, it’s great. Alma has equipped me with all the resources and tools necessary to be able to juggle all my involvements through education, sports, clubs and work. Almost every student I know at Alma is involved in something extracurricular, and it is one of the things that stands out to me about Alma. The students and faculty do a phenomenal job making sure no student gets lost in the college chapter their life.
To view a video version of this day in my life, check out my Alma College Instagram page (@almacollege_holly)! I post content on all things Alma College to help give people a look into what my life is like as a student at Alma College.
