Eastern students have several responsibilities when it comes to academics and school life, but there are those students who have extra curricular activities that take a lot of time during the week.

These students will sometimes spend many hours at different buildings on campus making those buildings their “second homes.”

For art, theater, and music majors, their second home is the Dounda Fine Arts Center.

For students who are either becoming teachers or becoming involved with the media, Buzzard Hall is the place where those students would spend most of their time.

Student athletes’ second home becomes their practice field, the Student Recreational Center, and their playing field.

A student like Ethan Kruger, a sophomore communications studies major with a focus in electronic media production, is involved in both radio at Hit Mix 88.9 and in Eastern’s marching band. Kruger is aware of how two extra curricular activities can take time out of his day.

“I usually spend about two to three hours a day working with the marching band for three days a week,” said Kruger. “I will usually also spend a couple of hours in the radio station for the same amount of day too.”

When it comes to schoolwork, many students must be able to find a good balance of time where they are able to get their schoolwork done with success.

For Kruger, this is more important because his academics are important to his extra curricular activities.

“It is an incentive for me to do well academically because both the radio and the marching band have GPA requirements that I have to meet,” said Kruger

For athletes, they spend many hours a day, almost every day of the week, practicing their sport so they can play better come game time.

For Jake Kaplan, a junior history major, his practice field is nearly an hour and fifteen minutes away in the town of Danville.

Kaplan is part of Eastern hockey club, which has to use the ice rink at Danville for practices and home games.

“The hockey team spends two days a week at the Rec weightlifting for an hour and then two days are spent practicing in Danville,” Kaplan said. “The nights that we are in Danville, practice will usually last about five hours. You feel kind of exhausted when you get home at the end of the night.”

When finally finishing with the extra curricular work for the day, being able to head back to their real home, students can often feel tired from all the work they have put in. Kruger said he believes when he comes back home he has accomplished a lot in the day.

“Definitely tired at the end of the day, but it is nice to know that I have accomplished something at the end of the day,” said Kruger.

When spending so much time away from home, students often develop strong bonds with those they are working with at their second homes. Kaplan believes that it is hard not to develop friendships and chemistry with the people he is always working with.

“You are absolutely make friends, like any team sport, if you see the guys long enough you are going to develop something,” Kaplan said.

Steven Puschmann can be reached at 581-7942 or [email protected].