A Day in the Life of a Red Fox
Madison Heitz ‘21 invited the Circle into her busy life to see what the average day is like for a Marist Red Fox.
With a 9:30 a.m. class, Madison wakes up at 8:50 a.m. to the sound of her iPhone alarm. Her first instinct is to fall back asleep, but instead replies to Snapchats and text messages that she left open from the night before. After communicating with friends, she always checks the weather for the day ahead.
The day’s outfit preoccupies her thoughts while she brushes her teeth and applies makeup. Once dressed, Heitz enjoys a banana and some ginger kombucha tea to kick start her day. She admits that on days with 8 a.m. classes she forgoes her breakfast.
Arriving a few minutes before her 9:30 a.m. class begins, she sits front and center in the classroom.
Madison Heitz ‘21
“I sit right in front of the teacher. This is so I do not fall asleep or text. My focus is on the professor and the work in front of me,” Heitz said. She deliberately takes notes with a pencil and notebook rather than a laptop. Being an athletic training major requires a disciplined strategy in class, and she said taking notes with a pencil helps her to memorize her notes and lessons better.
Next she has a 12:30 p.m. class, which gives Heitz an hour-long break from class and general responsibilities. This “me-time” is filled with friends and sometimes food. Heitz says this downtime allows her a moment to catch her breath before taking on two more classes.
She treats her 12:30 p.m. class in Allied Health the same as the 9:30 a.m. class: sitting in the same spot as the morning class, she listens attentively.
Once again, Heitz has a gap between classes that she describes as “too long to do nothing but too short to go to the gym. To fill this time, I usually go home and tap a nap. This consists of me laying down and setting my iPhone for 40 minutes as I clear my head while I listen to ‘Violin Covers’ on my Spotify.”
Post-nap, Heitz goes to any of the Starbucks locations on campus, which have quickly drained her thrifty cash account. A regular order for Heitz is either a black iced coffee or an almond milk latte.
The dedicated student and her coffee continue to her 3:30 p.m. class, which is a lab. For all non-science students, a lab is a once-a-week, two-hour class. This two-hour period is a struggle for Heitz, but a reward lies on the other side; dinner.
“Where it’s at,” is how Madison describes dinner. All of the pains and struggles of the college student are all worth it for the climax that is dinnertime. For Heitz, dinner is usually spent at the Building D dining hall. For one meal swipe, she gets a chicken caesar salad, chips and a water.
Dinner is usually spent with a friend. Heitz admits that her core group of friends all have different schedules, so weekdays are spent with friends within her major. Given the wait-time for food at North End Dining, dinner can take up to an hour. But according to this AT student, it is all worth it.
Unfortunately, the fun concludes as Heitz secludes herself in either the Allied Health Building or the library to continue studying.
“Every night is something different, it really depends on the class [I am studying for]. Sometimes it is memorizing, or strictly reading, or writing, or just re-reading packets from class. I tend to study alone but I sometimes study with my friend John.”
To Heitz, studying is a time to understand the material from class, not a time to socialize with friends. This dedication is what allows her to have fun on the weekend. The nightly goal is to be done studying and back home before midnight. Once in the house, the outfit that preoccupied her morning thoughts evaporates into pajamas. Nightly rituals include showering, brushing teeth, applying makeup and drinking tea before she settles down for bed.
The last thing her eyes see before she calls it a night are the texts and Snapchats she will leave open only to respond the minute she wakes up in the morning and the cycle begins anew.
After reviewing a 15-hour day like this, some would ask, “What is her secret to keeping it together?” The answer: music.
“I listen to my Spotify every moment I’m not busy in the day. It distracts me from overthinking and allows me to relax. It is a necessity, even if my phone is dying, I still listen to my music.”
Heitz updates her personal playlist weekly, allowing for a fresh batch of jams to keep her inspire and motivated.
“I have a goal in mind. I will do whatever it takes to get to that goal someday, even if that means sacrificing some of the ‘crazy wild’ aspect of college.”
The average day of a Marist student may be long, tiresome and jam-packed, but students continue onward toward a guiding goal. Whether it be writing the next greatest American novel, earning a medical PhD or calling plays in an NFL game someday, goals drive students like Heitz to get up every day and get to work.