Alliance for Catholic Education
From the morning sunrise to late-night community outings, a day in the life of a Malpass Fellow is exhausting. But it's the things that come in between that make it a life worth living.
6:50 AM | Woah, morning already? Well, maybe I can hit snooze just once…
7:15 AM | Ok, time to get up! Welcome to my “Get Ready With Me.” I start by playing some energetic pop music to get the blood pumping and continue to wake myself up ... I'm not much of a morning person. I perform my skincare routine – shave, face wash, and moisturize – before picking out my polo shirt to match with my dress pants for the day.
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM | A quick breakfast, consisting of either a protein shake or a bagel, and the roomies and I are off to start the long journey from our lovely convent to the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Quigley Center. We swiftly walk over to the Blue Line on the 'L,' where we ride for a couple stops before making a quick change over to brave the Red Line. I usually take this time to catch up on the news with NPR’s “Up First” podcast. We then hop off at the Chicago station, perhaps making a brief appearance at Stan’s Donuts for coffee, before heading into work.
9:00 AM | Down in the situation room, the Parish Operations Interns, consisting of Conner, Faith, and me, are hard at work creating dynamic Power BI dashboards to help parish leaders keep better track of their sacramental and financial data. Whether it's debugging a DAX measure or watching Youtube tutorials on how to make a drilldown, know that we are hard at work developing our next analytical report.
11:30 AM | Arguably my favorite part of the day, the interns head up to St. James Chapel for daily Mass. On a lucky day, we might celebrate Mass with Cardinal Blase. This is always a great time to ground ourselves in faith and renew ourselves in the context of our work's greater mission and purpose.
12:00 PM | Lunch time! If the Cubbies won the previous night at Wrigley, chances are you will catch us grabbing our free Chick-Fil-A sandwich to celebrate. We head over to eat in a tiny park right across the street, daring ourselves to smell the buttery aromas coming from the nearby Jeni’s Ice Cream stand.
1:00 PM | Back to work we go! The Parish Ops team continues to work in “The Bunker," often checking in with our mentors to ensure we are heading in the right direction. This is usually broken up with a fun meeting or two where we get to learn more about the inner workings of other departments within the Archdiocese of Chicago.
4:30 PM | It’s quitting time! The interns head back to the convent, recapping our hectic day of work at the office on the ride back on the 'L.'
5:15 PM | By now we have returned to the convent, and I am presented with two choices: work out in our gym or take a nap. I wish I could say I usually choose the first, but alas a power nap after a long day of work is often too tempting.
6:15 PM | It’s time to make dinner in our well-equipped kitchen. If I’m feeling courageous, I may decide to cook some chicken with a pasta dish. But one would usually find me cooking up a frozen meal from Trader Joe’s freezer section, my newest obsession.
7:00 PM | Time to explore Chicago some more! We head out to take on the next adventure. Whether it’s screaming our lungs out at Taylor Swift night, attending a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, or finding a movie festival in the park, we take advantage of our short time here in the city.
11:00 PM | Back at the convent again, tired after another fun, eventful day. As the sleepiness overcomes my body, I recount in my mind why I’m here in the first place: to utilize the technical skills I’ve learned from Notre Dame to assist the Church in providing a fulfilling faith experience to God’s children. It fills me with warmth as I slowly fall asleep, relaxed knowing that He is always with me.