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Duke Trio Balances Life on Two Planets
11/18/2021 8:39:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By Meredith Rieder, GoDuke The Magazine
DURHAM -- The shimmer of the moonlight casts a glow on the Duke Chapel as the sun thinks about peeking through the early morning sky. You might see a few dedicated students walking to the gym for an early morning workout or ROTC members in the middle of physical training, but campus is dark and calm.
A couple of miles away, the lights are on and feet have hit the floor at the apartments of Amaya Finklea-Guity, Lexi Gordon and Jade Williams as they each begin their action-packed day.
All three are members of the Duke women's basketball team and graduate students pursuing their Master of Management Studies degrees at Duke's Fuqua School of Business. They, along with dozens of other Duke student-athletes, are balancing the time demands of playing basketball with the rigors of a challenging one-year master's degree.
"This isn't my first go around so I know what I need to do to stay on track and that's exactly what I'm doing," said Gordon in reference to managing her time. "I'm doing what I need to do on the court and I'm going to class and doing homework … everything that you have to do to be successful and on the court and off the court."
Their days start before the sunrise — around 6:30 for Williams, who also has a dog to care for — and go nearly non-stop for the next 12 hours. The Blue Devils hit the practice courts at 8 a.m., where their focus is on basketball and building the Blue Devils into an ACC title contender. After practice and any weight sessions they might have, they have time to visit the training room if needed and to grab lunch before heading to their two classes that span 1:45-4:00 and 4:15-6:30. Then it's home to take care of any school work before turning out the lights out to recharge for another day of the same.
While the Master of Management Studies degree is a vigorous 10-month program, all three of them recognize and relish the opportunity ahead of them. For them, every day isn't about what they HAVE to do, rather it is what they GET to do.
"It's definitely a challenging program, but I'm excited I get to participate in it," said Williams. "I think everything I've learned so far are definitely skills I can use in my future."
"Fuqua is tough, but I'm so grateful for this opportunity," said Gordon. "It's a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am getting older so I know I need to get ready to enter the real world. I wanted to come to a school that had academics as a huge priority and that's exactly what I'm getting here at Duke."
Albeit a challenging curriculum, one of the greatest opportunities they get to experience are the challenges and rewards of working in small groups within what is known as Team Fuqua.
This concept of group work is one of the pillars to the MMS program. In fact, the Fuqua website states: "Peers with a wide array of life experiences will challenge and inspire you in ways that build your professional network and create friendships that last a lifetime. You'll also join a circle of 184,000+ Duke alumni worldwide, connecting you with resources and relationships that expand your set of opportunities."
Williams, well versed with the Duke culture after spending four years as an undergraduate, absolutely treasures these relationships she is forging, allowing her to extend her network outside of athletics.
"I'm learning so much from my group members who might not be athletes or they came in from schools like Princeton or other programs and are doing their grad program here," Williams said. "I've enjoyed the program, specifically because of the people."
Finklea-Guity and Gordon, who are first-time Duke students after completing their undergraduate degrees at Syracuse and Texas Tech, respectively, are also benefitting from the camaraderie with their fellow student-athletes in the same program. With everything and everyone being brand new for them, the commonality of athletics has helped ease the transition.
"It's definitely helped a lot [to have other student-athletes in the program]," said Finklea-Guity. "It kind of helps to know that someone else is doing the same thing you are doing. Everyone has been very encouraging, very supportive and friendly so it's nice to get familiar with them. They get to know you, you get to know them and we all kind of go through this process together."
"It's amazing [having fellow student-athletes] in the program," Gordon said. "It is just nice to have people who understand the rigorous schedule that we have. We talk a lot."
The MMS program takes this collection of diverse students with a "wide array of life experiences" and places them into groups. Then, for the next 10 months, the groups work together to complete assignments, projects and presentations.
Team Fuqua, like many athletic teams, is working towards the same end of achieving excellence through teamwork. They even spend their first couple of weeks team building through various activities, because much like this year's women's basketball team that features 11 new players, everyone needs to get familiar with each other to foster success. After the initial groundwork is laid, like in sports, the execution is left up to the students.
Group work is second nature for this trio as they've had to come together with different people on basketball teams throughout their lives. Fuqua has been no different for them. In fact, they cherish the challenge of bringing together a new team.
For Finklea-Guity, Gordon and Williams, finding success in Team Fuqua, while a different venue, has been no different than building a championship team on the basketball court. Constant conversations are necessary and learning about your teammates and finding your way to lead are paramount.
"As cliché as it sounds, communication is key," Finklea-Guity said. "In Fuqua you have to be able to communicate with each other, make sure you're all on the same page for what you have to get done for your group project. It's pretty much the same thing on the court. You have to communicate to make sure everyone knows what they have to do on offense or on defense."
For Gordon and Williams, they love putting the pieces of the puzzle together, finding and playing to each person's strengths. Even more comforting is knowing they can trust any one of their Fuqua group members to take the lead at times.
"Specifically for the MMS program, everyone has different strengths," Williams said. "Some people are really good at certain math concepts or some people are really good at [public speaking]. So it's that same type of team dynamic that translates from on the court to Fuqua."
Gordon echoed those sentiments and added how much fun she is having with Team Fuqua. Perhaps not exactly what she expected coming in, but enjoying every moment nonetheless.
"It's fun to have different people and to play off their strengths and weaknesses," Gordon said. "It's super fun. It's different than what I would have assumed it would be, but I like it. Different is not always a bad thing."
The trio will lean on these different experiences when it comes to leading the Blue Devils on the court. Duke, playing for the first time since Dec. 9, 2020, officially returned to the floor Nov. 9 at 7 p.m., against Winthrop. For those two-plus hours, their sole focus was winning inside Cameron Indoor Stadium. After the final horn sounded and the band played the alma mater, the trio switched their focus to a different team — Team Fuqua.
#GoDuke
DURHAM -- The shimmer of the moonlight casts a glow on the Duke Chapel as the sun thinks about peeking through the early morning sky. You might see a few dedicated students walking to the gym for an early morning workout or ROTC members in the middle of physical training, but campus is dark and calm.
A couple of miles away, the lights are on and feet have hit the floor at the apartments of Amaya Finklea-Guity, Lexi Gordon and Jade Williams as they each begin their action-packed day.
All three are members of the Duke women's basketball team and graduate students pursuing their Master of Management Studies degrees at Duke's Fuqua School of Business. They, along with dozens of other Duke student-athletes, are balancing the time demands of playing basketball with the rigors of a challenging one-year master's degree.
"This isn't my first go around so I know what I need to do to stay on track and that's exactly what I'm doing," said Gordon in reference to managing her time. "I'm doing what I need to do on the court and I'm going to class and doing homework … everything that you have to do to be successful and on the court and off the court."
Their days start before the sunrise — around 6:30 for Williams, who also has a dog to care for — and go nearly non-stop for the next 12 hours. The Blue Devils hit the practice courts at 8 a.m., where their focus is on basketball and building the Blue Devils into an ACC title contender. After practice and any weight sessions they might have, they have time to visit the training room if needed and to grab lunch before heading to their two classes that span 1:45-4:00 and 4:15-6:30. Then it's home to take care of any school work before turning out the lights out to recharge for another day of the same.
While the Master of Management Studies degree is a vigorous 10-month program, all three of them recognize and relish the opportunity ahead of them. For them, every day isn't about what they HAVE to do, rather it is what they GET to do.
"It's definitely a challenging program, but I'm excited I get to participate in it," said Williams. "I think everything I've learned so far are definitely skills I can use in my future."
"Fuqua is tough, but I'm so grateful for this opportunity," said Gordon. "It's a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am getting older so I know I need to get ready to enter the real world. I wanted to come to a school that had academics as a huge priority and that's exactly what I'm getting here at Duke."
Albeit a challenging curriculum, one of the greatest opportunities they get to experience are the challenges and rewards of working in small groups within what is known as Team Fuqua.
This concept of group work is one of the pillars to the MMS program. In fact, the Fuqua website states: "Peers with a wide array of life experiences will challenge and inspire you in ways that build your professional network and create friendships that last a lifetime. You'll also join a circle of 184,000+ Duke alumni worldwide, connecting you with resources and relationships that expand your set of opportunities."
Williams, well versed with the Duke culture after spending four years as an undergraduate, absolutely treasures these relationships she is forging, allowing her to extend her network outside of athletics.
"I'm learning so much from my group members who might not be athletes or they came in from schools like Princeton or other programs and are doing their grad program here," Williams said. "I've enjoyed the program, specifically because of the people."
Finklea-Guity and Gordon, who are first-time Duke students after completing their undergraduate degrees at Syracuse and Texas Tech, respectively, are also benefitting from the camaraderie with their fellow student-athletes in the same program. With everything and everyone being brand new for them, the commonality of athletics has helped ease the transition.
"It's definitely helped a lot [to have other student-athletes in the program]," said Finklea-Guity. "It kind of helps to know that someone else is doing the same thing you are doing. Everyone has been very encouraging, very supportive and friendly so it's nice to get familiar with them. They get to know you, you get to know them and we all kind of go through this process together."
"It's amazing [having fellow student-athletes] in the program," Gordon said. "It is just nice to have people who understand the rigorous schedule that we have. We talk a lot."
The MMS program takes this collection of diverse students with a "wide array of life experiences" and places them into groups. Then, for the next 10 months, the groups work together to complete assignments, projects and presentations.
Team Fuqua, like many athletic teams, is working towards the same end of achieving excellence through teamwork. They even spend their first couple of weeks team building through various activities, because much like this year's women's basketball team that features 11 new players, everyone needs to get familiar with each other to foster success. After the initial groundwork is laid, like in sports, the execution is left up to the students.
Group work is second nature for this trio as they've had to come together with different people on basketball teams throughout their lives. Fuqua has been no different for them. In fact, they cherish the challenge of bringing together a new team.
For Finklea-Guity, Gordon and Williams, finding success in Team Fuqua, while a different venue, has been no different than building a championship team on the basketball court. Constant conversations are necessary and learning about your teammates and finding your way to lead are paramount.
"As cliché as it sounds, communication is key," Finklea-Guity said. "In Fuqua you have to be able to communicate with each other, make sure you're all on the same page for what you have to get done for your group project. It's pretty much the same thing on the court. You have to communicate to make sure everyone knows what they have to do on offense or on defense."
For Gordon and Williams, they love putting the pieces of the puzzle together, finding and playing to each person's strengths. Even more comforting is knowing they can trust any one of their Fuqua group members to take the lead at times.
"Specifically for the MMS program, everyone has different strengths," Williams said. "Some people are really good at certain math concepts or some people are really good at [public speaking]. So it's that same type of team dynamic that translates from on the court to Fuqua."
Gordon echoed those sentiments and added how much fun she is having with Team Fuqua. Perhaps not exactly what she expected coming in, but enjoying every moment nonetheless.
"It's fun to have different people and to play off their strengths and weaknesses," Gordon said. "It's super fun. It's different than what I would have assumed it would be, but I like it. Different is not always a bad thing."
The trio will lean on these different experiences when it comes to leading the Blue Devils on the court. Duke, playing for the first time since Dec. 9, 2020, officially returned to the floor Nov. 9 at 7 p.m., against Winthrop. For those two-plus hours, their sole focus was winning inside Cameron Indoor Stadium. After the final horn sounded and the band played the alma mater, the trio switched their focus to a different team — Team Fuqua.
#GoDuke
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