BLAKE BRANCH
News Editor | mbb029@latech.edu
As busy and booming as Louisiana Tech’s campus and the Ruston community can be in the fall, it can be equally dull in the summer.
However, each summer a select group of students make the choice to stay behind and give their time to Tech.
“I get to work at 7:30 a.m.,” said Rebecca Clements, a sophomore studio art major. “I go to lunch at 11 a.m. and then come back to work from 1-5 p.m.”
Clements is a student worker in the office of financial aid.
“I learned that I need to be informed,” she said. “You have to be able to help parents and students without having to send them all over campus.”
Student workers are limited to working 20 hours per week, restricting the amount of income they can achieve in a pay period.
That is something that has long irked senior general studies major Hilary Sears.
Sears has been working in the purchasing office on the fourth floor of Keeny Hall for the past two years.
“We only get paid once a month,” she said. “My job is laid back and I love working on campus, but I feel like I am always waiting on my paycheck.”
Another rule for summer student workers is that they must be enrolled in classes, meaning their school year does not end.
“The worst part is having to take classes,” said sophomore kinesiology major Jessica Burgess. “It’s not like most students who just have to find a summer job.”
Despite those things, Burgess, who works in the Marbury Alumni Center, feels her job has been a blessing.
“I honestly feel like working at the M.A.C. has been one of the most rewarding experiences I have had,” she said. “The faculty care so much about our school and do their best to cater to our alumni and student needs.”
While some students who go home for the summer struggle to find a summer job, Clements said one positive of campus work is job security.
“Being able to have a job that is guaranteed and where you can set your own hours has been great,” she said. “But let’s be honest, work is work.”
While most people have to work, few are happy about it, and these brave student workers offer some advice for summer survival on campus.
“Stay as busy as you can,” Sears said. “If you don’t, you will be bored out of your mind.”
Clements weighed in with this advice.
“Stay informed about things that are important and be active around campus and the community,” she said.