Every college student will feel bogged down from time to time. Being a full-time student with numerous obligations will always be a stressful occupation in itself.

Add to that the unique lifestyle of a student athlete, and then, in addition to that, consider a highly competitive and prestigious scholarship. Five students at N.C. State have the honor of representing the University both academically and athletically.

The Park Scholarship is a four-year award that covers tuition and other fees, lodging and books. In addition to these stipends, there is heavy emphasis on academic achievement and an enrichment program is enforced for the scholars to receive the full award. Approximately 1,000 students apply for the scholarship yearly, and only about 50 students per year are selected after an extensive process of nominations, applications and multiple interviews.

Being a Park Scholar has interfered with the athletic life of soccer player Kelly Cox, a freshman majoring in zoology, on more than one occasion. Every Wednesday, Cox had to leave practice an hour early to attend weekly seminars for Park Scholars, and also had to miss part of this year’s preseason.

“During preseason I had to miss a couple days, which is rough because our preseason is really difficult,” Cox said. “We have this extensive, exhausting week or so of just working for soccer. It was rough, but my team was really supportive.”

In order to manage her day-to-day schedule, she plans her days out hourly. In addition to taking regular classes as well as attending the Park seminar, she also has to allot time for study hall hours, pregame meals and freshman duties for soccer. She believes it’s just “all about planning.”

“[Balance] is challenging. Soccer’s a very big commitment, and so is Park,” Cox said. “But I swear by time management. It’s all about time management — planning things out, being prepared, doing stuff ahead of time – and not procrastinating because that just gets you stuck.”

Allison Hofmann, a freshman majoring in nutrition science, is a member of the cross country team as well as the indoor and outdoor track teams. Hofmann takes a different approach to managing her time between academics, athletics and being a Park Scholar.

“Right now, just being a freshman, I’m really kind of doing the bare minimum, [remembering] that I’m a student first,” Hofmann said. “I really emphasize sleep, at least this semester. Being an athlete, you really do need at least eight hours of sleep. If I’m getting sleep that tells me I’m balancing my time.”

Caroline Ellington, a freshman majoring in textile engineering, is one of three of the golf team’s newest members. Upon receiving the Park Scholarship, she came to N.C. State after originally committing to and registering at another college. Since she registered later than her teammates, she had a different schedule from the rest of her team “every day, five days a week.” Though this was due to her unique situation, it has made her transition a little bit more difficult due to the poorly structured time.

“It’s definitely taken some adjusting, but I’m so fortunate because I have the best of every world,” Ellington said. “You have to work hard to keep up, but there’s definitely more positives than negatives.

Since her schedule will change next semester, she knows it’ll be much easier, especially since the spring marks the start of her regular golf season.

“This semester I had 16 hours, but I really had 18 because of the seminar, so it’s just an extra time requirement,” Ellington said. “We also have outside work for that, and other obligations and functions outside of normal responsibilities.”

Being a Park Scholar not only takes a toll on the students’ academic and athletic lives, though. It’s also taken measures on the social aspect of their college experiences. Hofmann, while busy, believes that she “close to perfected” her social life during her senior year of high school.

“I just realized that life is so much more than a GPA,” Hofmann said. “Sometimes if there is an ultimate Frisbee game or a midnight football game going on, I’ll do that even if I have a little bit more studying to do. I just realize that right now the friends you make mean a lot. Those little times will be big memories in the future.”

Chris Goodell, a junior double majoring in biology and French, is in his third year as a Park Scholar and his second year of being the beloved mascot Mr. Wuf. Though he isn’t a varsity athlete, his schedule as a mascot alone is very time consuming.

“It’s not as big as being a full-time athlete, but we travel to all different games,” Goodell said. “We also go to elementary schools and carnivals and focus on giving back to the community.”

While Goodell has found his athletic and academic niche, the freshman Park Scholars are still transitioning to the lifestyle of being a student athlete as well as a Park Scholar.

While Ellington said it has been a drastic change for her, riddled with many obligations and academic responsibility, she said she realizes what a privilege it is to represent N.C. State as both a service-oriented Scholar and an athlete.

“When I get bogged down, I just remember that I’m in a really good spot and there are people who would really like to be where I am,” Ellington said.