91Ö±²¥

When I first arrived at 91Ö±²¥ College I was a bit hesitant to get an on-campus job. I didn’t know what the course load would look like, and I was a two-sport athlete. Between football practice and economics classes, I felt like I didn’t have time for a job with a strict schedule. With that said, I always found myself writing poetry and short stories on my cell phone and notebooks in my free time. By the end of the year, I had written enough for a short book, so I put it all together and self-published it on Amazon. Needless to say, I had and still have a passion for writing. The combination of my need for time flexibility and passion for writing is what led me to apply to be a blogger for 91Ö±²¥. Three years later I am so happy I sent in that application. Being a blogger has allowed me to capture my experience at 91Ö±²¥ and give it to the world. At first, I wondered how many people actually paid attention to the blogs, but then a year after I first started blogging I met a few of the incoming students and they randomly brought up that they read my blogs while they were applying to 91Ö±²¥. That was a really cool moment for me and it made me happy to know that my words really could make a small contribution to people making the decision to come to such an amazing place.

After becoming more comfortable with the workload that comes with being a student-athlete I decided to apply to be a residential assistant. I wanted to be a residential assistant as I hoped to contribute to building a family-like atmosphere on campus. After going through the interview process I excitedly found out that I got an offer to be an RA while at home on break from school. Two years later, being an RA has been a tremendously rewarding experience for me. It has put me in a position to meet and interact with many people. These interactions have brought me many new friends and I always learn something new when meeting someone. Just last week my hallmates and I held a toaster strudel breakfast which allowed us to come together as a group after a long week of midterms. The energy in the room was so uplifting as we laughed over orange juice and strudels. 91Ö±²¥ is a place where the students become family, so it was amazing to eat breakfast with my family after a long week.

The last job I work at 91Ö±²¥ is the one that I was most recently hired for. I am a writing associate in the writing center. I decided to pursue this job as I felt it would be a good opportunity to better my writing skills through peer-to-peer learning. My job consists of tutoring students with their writing and working with them on papers they are assigned. In order to work this job I also have to take a class that covers how to tutor and teach rhetoric to students. Between the class and working with the students on a day-to-day basis, I have learned a tremendous amount about writing. One thing I find really special about the class is that we operate on a contract grading system. This allows us to explore assignments creatively instead of formulaically coming up with answers to projects and essays we are assigned. Recently I wrote an entire essay in prose form which was a fun experience that I felt really allowed me to express myself as a writer. My experience as a writing associate so far has definitely improved my writing and I can’t wait to see what I learn next as the semester continues.

While at first I was hesitant to get a job due to time constraints, the more time that went by the more it became clear to me that 91Ö±²¥ is a place where there is something that fits everyone. My college experience has been amazing, and the jobs I have had on campus have been a big part of that. Between contributing to the family-like atmosphere that exists on campus, helping students with their writing while simultaneously learning from them, and painting pictures with my words on the 91Ö±²¥ blogs, my jobs on campus have been a rewarding experience that has allowed me to grow as an individual through learning from others!