Tabitha Sherwood
Tabitha Sherwood says her entire life is centered around exercise.
A junior majoring in exercise science and psychology, Tabitha is a rider for the Collins Cycling team. On top of that, she lifts weights at the gym one morning a week and tries to get in at least three runs, too. When she is home on breaks and during the summer, Tabitha works at Fitness Forum Sports and Wellness in her hometown of Plymouth, Ind.
Cycling has consumed her life, and Tabitha wouldn’t have it any other way. She spends at least 20 hours a week on the bike training for the upcoming Little 500 race and other road races. She has had to make sacrifices for her sport such as “a social life,” she says and laughs.
“It’s been a challenge, but I’ve found a good balance,” she says. “School always comes first.”
When she was 9 years old, Tabitha started running competitively. She would compete in 5-kilometer road races, and she ran cross-country and track from middle school through high school. She started doing triathlons during her freshman year at IU, and that’s when she was introduced to cycling. The Collins Cycling team has since become her second family.
A back injury sustained from a cycling accident this past fall has kept Tabitha from running regularly. She says she thinks that time off the bike could help her back heal faster.
But Tabitha can’t do that. “If I go a day without riding my bike, you can tell. I’m not that happy,” she says. -sb
Carly Smith
Instead of working 20 hours per week as a lifeguard for Campus Recreational Sports, junior Carly Smith cut her hours to 10 this semester.
That will be plenty with the demands of I-Core, she says.
Integrated-Core is required of students in the Kelley School of Business, and it’s usually completed during their junior years.
Students are put into groups and have two weeks at the end of the semester to solve an issue in the business world using the material they’ve learned in class.
“I’ve heard of groups who don’t leave campus — they spend the night,” Carly says. “So it’ll be an interesting time.”
The program includes a blocked class schedule where classes are structured so the same students are in classes together every day with the same core professors.
Each class has its own topic — strategy, marketing, finance, and operations. Aside from midterms and finals, 20 percent of each class grade is the “core case.”
“For a lot of kids who aren’t used to studying for tests except the day or two days before, the semester can be a bit of a shock to them,” Carly says.
Kelley professors tell Carly and her fellow business students for every hour spent in the classroom, they should be studying two hours on their own.
For this reason, professors also often point out during lecture which information will be most essential to the core case. Carly says this has helped her prepare.
“I think it does, to an extent, consume your life,” she says. “It’s hard to manage if you have a job like I do and other things you want to do in the semester.”
Carly studies marketing with a minor in event planning. She spends about two to five hours per week as treasurer for the Student Event Planner Association. This includes time spent on a combination of meetings, required volunteer work for events, and guest speakers from the profession.
But Carly isn’t worried she’ll have trouble managing her time.
“It gives me an advantage going into I-Core,” Carly says. “I have experience balancing school, a personal life, and work life. That might be something that trips people up is that they don’t know how to balance it on a weekly basis.” -rw
Rachel Hoopingarner
The whole day they had been playing the question game, but senior Rachel Hoopingarner had not been expecting this one.
To celebrate their second anniversary of dating, IU alumnus Tyler Roach took Rachel to all the places in Bloomington that were special to the two of them.
Though the plan had been to end under the lights at the Art Museum, the lights had been removed, so Tyler improvised and brought Rachel to sit near Showalter Fountain.
That November day was when he asked the question that changed their lives.
Through tears, Rachel accepted his marriage proposal, and the two have been planning the big day ever since — Rachel from Bloomington, and Tyler from Columbus, Ohio.
“During the week, we try to keep it at a minimum,” Rachel says. “I try to stay focused on school and friends. That’s where I’m at at the moment.”
She and Tyler try to visit one another every weekend, which she says has helped a lot with the planning. They may also travel to Muncie, her hometown and the location of the wedding.
“If I need to do wedding planning, I make sure to make a quick call between classes, or after I’m done for the day I might plan and schedule stuff, but honestly I cranked out a lot during Christmas break,” Rachel says.
In late March, she says only fine details are left. All the booking is done, the people are hired, and the date — May 24 — is fast approaching.
Though the two were in school at the same time, they focused on their other priorities — work, school, friends, and family.
“I made sure those aspects of my life were not overshadowed with my relationship with Tyler,” Rachel says.
Tyler followed suit and landed a job for JP Morgan Chase, which is why the two must endure the time apart until Rachel’s graduation.
“I’m most excited to be over with long distance,” Rachel says. -rw
Joe Heath
Senior Joe Heath sings for crowds as large as 300 people at Kilroy’s Dunnkirk and the Bluebird Nightclub with his cover band, Dad’s Weekend.
However, he prefers the private basement shows his band Joe Heath and the Heathens often plays.
“We figured out we like playing basements more because people are keen on listening to you,” Joe says. “Crowds can be distant if you don’t have a big name.”
One of Joe’s particularly fond memories was playing at a house party. All the furniture had been removed from the living room, and about 80 people piled in to hear the show. They were the last band with a set, and it was past midnight — late, Joe says.
“Right when we ended our last tune was when the cops showed up and busted the party,” Joe says.
Because he writes music and plays guitar for the Heathens, Joe spends about 10 to 15 hours per week on material for the band.
“It’s an outlet for me,” Joe says. “I do a lot, and I’m very busy, but when playing with the Heathens it’s a release to get out there.”
Dad’s Weekend started in fall 2013 because he and his friends wanted to play at bars. They play fewer shows, during which Joe provides the vocals, but the band still occupies about three hours of his week.
Additionally, the recording arts major acts as station manager at WIUX and audio engineer for WTIU.
“Sometimes I even like when I’m in a little bit over my head because it forces me to work harder and find solutions to things I otherwise wouldn’t,” Joe says. “Though it takes time and I’m exhausted all the time and stressed out, I really wouldn’t want to live any other way.” -rw
Anna Schnick
On April 4, all of Anna Schnick’s hard work culminated into a BFA photography thesis show entitled “Inheritance.” The senior, who will graduate in May with a bachelor of fine arts and a minor in anthropology, spent the majority of her spring semester working on the project, in which she explores her life in terms of her mother’s experiences. Anna used a variety of processes in her work including 4 x 5 photographs, tintype, and photographs altered in Photoshop.
“The way I think about (my thesis project) isn’t quite factual. I’ve created a mythology for myself,” Anna says. “But I think that’s how we think about things in life anyway.”
Because much of her thesis focused on her mother, Anna found herself in Muncie most weekends. A BFA thesis project such as this is a time-consuming and exhausting venture. Most students focus primarily on this during the semester, taking a lighter class load and dropping other responsibilities.
Anna did just the opposite.
Against her better judgment, she signed up for two studio art classes this semester, sculpture and advanced Photoshop, which both require ample work outside class.
Once a week, Anna serves as the lab monitor for the dark room and digital photography labs at the Fine Arts Building from 6 p.m. to midnight. And when she has any time to spare, Anna volunteers at the Middle Way House: she operates the 24-hour phone line and is available as an on-scene advocate if a victim at the hospital wishes to have company.
Even though she juggles all this, Anna still wishes she could do more. “There are just too many things that are happening,” she says. “I wish I could do them all.” -sb
