Chris Jackson is a senior chemistry major at St. Edward’s University. He is a member of the university’s cross-country, a resident assistant, a leader for Campus Ministry’s Spring Break Experiences community service program, part of the Steady Jazz Band, a teacher’s assistant and the president of two clubs.

Cross-country meets every morning at 6:30 a.m. except on Wednesdays when they meet at 6 a.m. The team runs together for about eight to ten miles. As extensive as that sounds, they also run on their own time and pace on Sunday mornings, which means the runners get few breaks. 

Because of this constant running, Jackson makes sure to make time to meet with a trainer,  get an ice bath or do some pool exercises after practice.  

Jackson enjoys keeping himself busy, but admits that it can get challenging when juggling his schedule. 

In order to keep up with his busy life, he tries to stay extremely organized. Every meeting, event and big deadline go into his calendar on his phone and he keeps a separate planner for school assignments. 

Each night he makes sure to go through his next day’s activities to make sure he doesn’t miss out on anything.

Even though he chooses to stay busy, lack of sleep is an inevitable consequence. He gets five or six hours of sleep a night.

When dealing with timing conflicts that require him to be in different places at one time, Jackson makes sure to reach out to his professors, bosses and friends to let them know how busy he really is.

“It really helps that they all know how busy I am and are always understanding,” Jackson said.

The next cross-country meet is on Saturday in Bellingham, Washington. 

Below is what Jackson’s schedule looked like on Sept. 28.