Students have the opportunity to serve the community, develop work experience, and earn money through various work study jobs offered.
Whether it is cleaning up the bathrooms in Shenawana, working at the welcome desk, or being a teaching assistant (TA), there are a lot of student work study jobs available on campus. Some jobs are more popular than others, but given the vast variety of jobs available on campus, you never really know what kind of work you’re going to be doing.
There are a variety of reasons students choose to get a job on campus. Some get jobs because it gives them something to do, while others feel a greater need to serve the college community. However, most students get work study jobs for one simple reason. Money. While for most students the money is the main selling point of a job, there are many other rewards and benefits to work study jobs.
Having a work study job does provide students with a small income, but also provides work experience and helps develop transferable work skills for students’ future careers. Senior, Chad Muise, works at the welcome desk in the campus center. His job entails a lot of direct communication with a variety of people including students, faculty, and community members. Muise said that working at the welcome desk may not help him directly in his career path, but he has learned a few valuable skills in his time at the welcome desk. He said, “Communication and organizational skills are always an asset to build on, and working at the welcome desk has definitely helped me improve those skills.”
A lot of work study jobs provide students with an enjoyable overall work experience. Junior, Chase Rangel, does the statistics book at volleyball games and he enjoys this work study job. Rangel said, “I like watching sports and it’s a front row seat to all the home games. Plus it’s easy work for the amount of hours you get.” Junior, Brett Rapan, has three jobs on campus. “I like the proctor job the most because I get to sit down and do my homework while I’m at work,” said Rapan, the true definition of “work study.”
Not only do work study jobs offer money and an enjoyable experience, they can also offer a sense of leadership and an opportunity to help fellow students. Senior, Kyle Flemington, is a TA in the physics department. He grades homework sets for two classes, General Physics One and Mechanics One. He too, admits that the income is nice, but the job does have other benefits. Flemington said, “This job is a good experience because it is considered a leadership role in the physics department. You get to help other students with their homework and help them better understand the concepts.”
While work study jobs may not be physically demanding labor, students do struggle to find a balance between their personal life and work. Muise said, “The hardest part of the job is working around my personal schedule. I have taken on a lot of different tasks this year in the classroom and on campus in the form of jobs and clubs, so my schedule does not always match up with the available shifts.”
Not all work studies are as enjoyable for students. Rapan also cleans the bathrooms and showers in Shenawana, a job that he described as “dirty and gross.” He dislikes this job because it takes an hour out of his day five days a week. He recounted a particularly gross day on the job in which “someone left a giant hairball in one of the stalls. It was the grossest thing I’ve ever seen.”