Balancing Act

Story by Staff Sgt. George Solis
California National Guard Public Affairs

March 31, 2021

BENICIA, Calif. - U.S. Army Spc. Kalaya Lee is a traditional Guardsman where she is a food services specialist with the 749th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion in Benicia, California.

Currently she’s on full time orders in support of the California Military Department’s COVID-19 response working at Joint Task Force 749 providing administrative support. Lee is also on a path to obtain her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from Holy Names University possibly a year earlier than expected.

“I just found out that my student advisor messed up and thought I was a transfer student. So, my school thought I started in the 2018-2019,” explained Lee, “But I actually started in 2019-2020 and they currently have me on track to possibly graduate in 2022.”

For Lee to make this abbreviated deadline, she’ll have to take 17 units for the next 3 semesters: Summer 2021, Fall 2021, and Spring 2022. Which sounds like a lot, but considering she’s currently enrolled in 19 units this semester, she’s used to the challenges.

Lee is not only well-versed in the challenges of handling a full-time school schedule, but she’s also well practiced in the act of balancing said school schedule with a full-time work schedule. Lee works on average 40 to 45 hours a week at the task force, and she also has anywhere between 45-50 hours of schoolwork per week. What’s her secret to maintaining this arduous schedule? It’s all about time management.

“What I do is I just write everything down, I have a little calendar book and in the little boxes I will write everything: meetings, school, workouts, work deadlines. I have reminders set on my phone. I just try to be organized as much as possible,” said Lee. “With everything that is associated with school and work, it can be overwhelming and stressful, but by just simply writing things down and being organized I don’t feel stressed out by the circumstances.”

With her impeccable time management skills, she explains that having a supervisor who is understanding and is willing to work with her school schedule is quite helpful.

“My supervisor says work comes first, but when there’s any downtime, 1st Sgt. Gomez says I can use that time towards my studies.”

Having both a full-time school and work schedule can be daunting to the uninitiated, but for Lee working and making strides towards her bachelor’s degree is quite rewarding.

“It’s great what we’re doing, it’s inspiring what we’re doing, it’s also good money,” Lee says with a smile, “But I’m getting closer and closer to my graduation date and the grind doesn’t stop.”