The Chiles Center bustles with stomping feet and faint cheers. The buzzer sounds and the backboard glows red, signaling the end of the timeout.
My eyes scan the crowd as I receive polite claps and nods of approval for our minute-long routine. I hear my favorite announcement over the stadium speakers: “Your Pilots Dance Team.” I wave to the audience as I run off the basketball court to find my spot under the hoop.
Just before halftime, No. 3 on the women’s basketball team hits a game-tying, three-point basket as the shot clock rings. Impressed looks exchanged across the sidelines.
Following in line with my teammates, I leave the court and head to our locker room to sip my water and check my phone. A notification hovers at the center of my screen: “Hi Kalena, the breaking news article is ready for you to edit.”
I spent the remaining minutes of halftime murmuring the words of the draft aloud, identifying the nut graf and leaving suggestions for the reporter to fix, before returning to the court.
Rising from a news reporter to living section editor, news and managing editor and finally the incoming editor-in-chief of The Beacon, my role as a student journalist has been a cherished part of my identity on The Bluff.
For the past three years, the other half of my heart – and time – has belonged to the Pilots Dance Team and the dancers with whom I have spent long game days and late-night practices.
Fulfilling these roles has been the most rewarding juggling act of my life, which makes closing the curtain to my collegiate dance career such a bittersweet goodbye.
If your passions pull you in separate directions, figure out how to pursue each one — for as long as you can.
Especially in adulthood, time set aside for practicing hobbies gets lost among the many other tasks and responsibilities that take priority.
Is it time, work or guilt that is the culprit behind the disappearing of hobbies? What is keeping you from doing the activities that spark joy?
Some people say you can’t have it all.
Well, after countless suggestions left on Google Docs and the persistent bruises on my legs from the basketball court floor, I say you can.
I write this opinion piece on a flight to Las Vegas to perform and cheer for Portland Men's and Women’s Basketball at the West Coast Conference 2026 Tournament. Drafting an article while quietly reciting an upcoming routine in counts of 8 has become a familiar practice of the double life I’ve chosen.
If you’ve found what you love, make sacrifices to keep it in your life. If you haven’t quite found it yet, keep dreaming — you are allowed to have multiple.
Kalena O’Connell is the News and Managing Editor for The Beacon. She can be reached at oconnell27@up.edu.
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