Category: On-Campus Jobs

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On-Campus Jobs: Student Assistant at the Center for Entrepreneurship + Innovation

GCC Business Suite

Many students are worried about working while they are at college, and luckily there are many opportunities at Grove City. There are many off-campus options due to our proximity to Grove City Premium Outlets as well as many great businesses to work at just barely off-campus on Broad Street like Sweet Jeanie’s and Beans on Broad. On-campus jobs are a great option, though, because supervisors understand that you are a student first and are able to be very flexible with scheduling, not to mention the “commute” is basically non-existent.

One of my positions on campus is as the student assistant to the program manager of the Center for Entrepreneurship + Innovation (CEI) at Grove City College. I started in this position in September of my sophomore year, and have enjoyed it ever since. The CEI recently increased its student staff, which means that there are many possibilities in this department.

In this position, I mostly work on administrative tasks given to me by my supervisor, Lynn Stillwaggon ’84. Twice a week I come into her office to work with her on details for that week. I also put together and send the weekly newsletter for the CEI. My jobs  can include anything from sending emails to students about events, and requesting help for events from faculty or staff to hanging up posters and writing our weekly newsletter. It has been a great opportunity to be involved in my major department and to understand the behind-the-scenes workings of our Center for Entrepreneurship + Innovation.

One of the biggest benefits of this position has been a great relationship with my supervisor. Mrs. Stillwaggon is a Grove City College alumna and has been a great supervisor and mentor for me over the past two and a half years. In between tasks we will chat about our weekends and life in Grove City, to more important conversations about life in general. This is a benefit that I think many student workers at Grove City College can agree with – our supervisors become so much more than that and we learn so much from them. These positions are much more than menial jobs.

I have also gotten to know many other students on campus through this position, whether it be from sending emails in order to gain information for a press release or because I am helping to organize our annual Elevator Pitch Competition, I have interactions with all kinds of people who I may not have met otherwise.

Working on campus has been an excellent experience and I have learned so much from the people I work with.

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On Campus Jobs – Chapel Staff

There are a wide variety of on-campus jobs at Grove City College. Coming in as a freshman, I knew that I wanted to work part-time while in school. There were so many options to choose from. I could work in the cafeteria‘s bakery or dishroom, work a desk shift, be a lifeguard, work at the library, and the list goes on and on. One position that had a particular interest to me was working on the chapel staff.

Chapel staff is a group of three men and three women who assist Dr. Keehlwetter, the Dean of the Chapel, in running chapel services. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, chapel staff will eat breakfast with the guest speaker. Then, we will pray or read scripture during the service. At the end of chapel, some of the chapel staff are stationed at the doors to make sure no latecomers try to sneak in and get a chapel credit. There are Sunday night services, called Vespers, that we hand out programs, pray, read scripture, and also scan student’s ID cards at the end so they receive a chapel credit. During the week, there are special chapel events that we can sign up to work. The schedule is rotated so that we do not have to attend every chapel service. There are over 50 chapel services every semester!

The most memorable experience for me on chapel staff is the Christmas Candlelight Service. The chapel is decorated and filled with Christmas cheer. There is a large Christmas tree at the front and garland strewn throughout the chapel. During the service, the lights are turned out, and everyone is given a candle. Last year, on chapel staff, I helped to light the choir’s candles. Once the lights are turned off and the candles are glowing, we sing some Christmas carols. It is amazing to see the hundreds of people, students and community members, holding their candles and singing.

My favorite part of being on chapel staff is the opportunity to be involved in chapel services. I have always enjoyed attending chapel, and being able to participate has been a great experience. I also enjoy talking with the guest speakers and hearing about their stories and what they have accomplished. We have had a variety of guest speakers, from pastors to missionaries and professors. I like that there are different speakers for every chapel, the variety makes me look forward to the message.

There are many positives to being on chapel staff and very few negatives for me. For some who are not a morning person, meeting for breakfast with the chapel speaker at 8:30 may be an issue. Also, if someone does not actually enjoy going to chapel, than this is not the right job. Public speaking skills are necessary because often times, I am speaking in front of the majority of the 2,500 students. Working Sunday nights can be difficult if I choose to go home, I have to be back at the chapel by 5:45, so I have to leave my house early to be back in time. There are also evening chapels throughout the semester that could interfere with other campus activities. The schedule is flexible though, and we can get other chapel staff to cover for us, if needed.

Chapel staff is a great campus job. It has been a great learning experience for me to go behind the scenes and see how chapel is run like clockwork. I also get paid to be involved in something that I enjoy. Even if you are not interested in working on chapel staff, I would encourage students to attend more chapels, even if they do not need the chapel credits. It is a great time to focus on what really matters and to take a break from focusing on schoolwork.

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On-Campus Jobs – Student Ambassador

Grove City College has a wide variety of jobs for students wanting to work while on campus. One job that I really have enjoyed is being a Student Ambassador for the Admissions Office. I have always enjoyed interacting with prospective students and their families, and when I received an email about there being tour guide positions open, I sprang at the opportunity. Being a Student Ambassador means I give tours to visiting families. I also work at various recruitment fairs, such as Senior Crimson Day, which is where high school seniors come and tour the college and get more information about life at Grove City.

The interview and training process to be a Student Ambassador was very thorough. It started with an online application. Then there were group interviews.  We were asked questions about Grove City College, as well as doing a team activity where the interviewers could see how we worked together to accomplish a task. After the group interview, I was called back for a personal interview with the Admissions Manager. I was offered the job, and gladly accepted! Training involved shadowing current tour guides, having a few friends follow and evaluate my tour, a written test, and having an evaluated tour. There is a Tour Guide Manual that we were required to memorize key facts and details about the buildings on campus.

The tour lasts about 75 minutes. At the beginning of the tour we are required to say the three pillars that Grove City College was founded on. They are: providing an excellent education in a thoroughly Christian environment, as well as keeping annual tuition and associated costs low for families. Some of the buildings we take the prospective students into are the chapel, a dorm room setup, the gym, science lab, main academic building and student union.

My favorite part about being a tour guide would be all of the new students that I meet. On more than one occasion, I have seen the same students come back to the College, either for an interview or some other event on campus. When the students see me they say, “Oh, she was our tour guide!” I also like to see what majors they are interested in, as well as what clubs or sports they would like to join. The tours are customizable, so I cover topics that interest the prospective students who are touring.

When I first saw the tour manual that I had to memorize, it was overwhelming. There is a lot of information. But, through the training process, I became even more familiar with what to say and where to go. If I do not know the answer to a question, I just tell them that I will ask the Admissions Office when we return from the tour. The training process took a solid three months, so there is plenty of time to study the facts. Also, the main goal is to showcase the spirit of the buildings and the school. While the facts are important to know, most students and parents just want to see the layout of the College and meet a guide who is truly passionate about Grove City College.  If you enjoy giving the tours, they will be able to tell.

Being a Student Ambassador is a great job for those students who are interested in meeting new people and making them feel welcomed. Even if you are a new student, you can use your first year at Grove City to become more familiar with the campus, and then decide if you would like to work as a tour guide.  I became a guide my senior year, so it is never too late!

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Will a Small, Christian School Be a Problem When I am Career-Searching?

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One of the most common concerns I’ve heard from high schoolers in their college search is this: Will employers hire me if I have a degree from a small, Christian school?

I’m shocked by this worry.

I just started my junior year at Grove City College, and right now I have an on-campus, paid graphic design job. Today, I was called in to interview for another part-time position at a national business and technology solutions company. A few weeks ago, a company in Washington D.C. reached out to me to talk about being the ‘young voice’ of a six-person marketing team they were building. I also have a paid internship with a multi-billion dollar biotechnical company lined up for the summer.

I do not specify the size or scope of these places to brag, but simply to express that small schools do not have to lead to small jobs.

The company I am going to be working for this summer, I worked for last summer, too. To emphasize to you how employable a Grove City College degree is, my employer for this job told me I was selected out of more than 300 applicants, many of them Ivy Leaguers. Of the final pick of interns at this company, more than 85% were from Ivy League schools. I personally did not even encounter another intern without an Ivy League or next-to-Ivy League degree – except for one. Another current Grove City student ended up being accepted to this company to intern as well.

Now, this is an organization in New York, with no ties at all to Grove City. My application went through a lot of employees before I even got an interview. I doubt more than one of them, if any at all, had even heard of Grove City. It didn’t matter. Both the other girl from Grove City and I had secured internships there. This was a perfect testament to me of how employable Grovers are – in both Christian circles and in the business world at large.

When I ultimately did talk to my employer about why they chose me for my internship position, the answer had nothing to do with school. It came down to three main qualities they cared about:

  1. I did my research before the interviews. I knew what the company was, their values, and why I wanted to work for the company. I was able to express specifically why they stood out to me in my search process.
  2. I was enthusiastic. During my emails, phone interviews, and video interviews, my employer said it struck her how passionate I sounded about the topics we discussed. That was important to her.
  3. I had organized knowledge on the topics I needed to know. When I was asked questions about business, marketing, or management, I stayed calm whether I felt confident or not about the answers. I had thought-through opinions and understanding of the information she referenced.
  4. I was grateful. After every conversation, every question, every interview, I made sure to show my appreciation for the time recruiters and my manager were spending on me.

These qualities were far more important to my company than the fact that I was from a small school. And the fact that Grove City had a wonderful academic reputation served me when people at my company looked it up during the recruitment process.

So I encourage you, regardless of what college you end up at, not to be overly concerned about the notoriety of it. Be much more focused on how you present yourself to companies, how many jobs you apply for, and how many connections (and friendships) you build along the way. Those are the qualities that Grove City College nurtures in students, and in my experience, it has always been more effective to be kind, enthusiastic, and productive than it would be to go to a big-name school.

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On-Campus Jobs: MAP Dishroom

Being a Grove City student is definitely a full-time job in and of itself. Classes, chapel, orchestra, sports, Greek life, bible study: you name it, and you’ll be booked full in no time. But there’s one thing that should be a part of your schedule so that you can afford to be a student with that busy Grove City schedule: an on-campus job. They’re often stressful, time-consuming, and mundane, but necessary to keep up with tuition costs. Fortunately, Grove City has a lot of on-campus job options, including the bookstore, the library, the admissions office, the mailroom, and my personal favorite, the dishroom in MAP cafeteria.

The first step in working at an on-campus job is finding one, which isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Many a student has been thrown off by the Student Employment Application on my.gcc.edu, thinking that they can fill it out and expect to hear back from an on-campus job come the start of the semester, but in the end, they get no response. At Grove City, the only way to get an on-campus job is to fill out a specific application sent out for that position and/or go to the supervisor and ask if they’re hiring. In MAP, it’s much easier than that. Anyone can walk right into the dishroom, take a look at the student schedule, and fill in their name for the shift that works best for them. You can take as many or as few shifts as you want, or even part of a shift: it’s extremely flexible. They also offer occasional Saturday shifts for catered events and visit days. After getting set up with payroll and a time card, you’re all set to go – your first on-campus job.

So what is it like to work in MAP once you’re there? Of course, dishwashing might sound tedious and less than desirable, but after working as freshmen, most students choose to stay and work in the dishroom throughout their college years instead of moving onto seemingly better choices such as the bookstore or the library. That’s because MAP’s students start off as coworkers just trying to get a job done and pay for college, but we become good friends who get paid to chat, listen to music, and have the occasional dance party while we work.

One of the greatest perks of working in MAP is the reason why the 7:30 a.m. breakfast staff doesn’t dread their shift as much as one might think. After the first rush of dishes, we get a paid half-hour break where we all enjoy breakfast and conversation as we slowly emerge from hibernation for the day. This gives students an opportunity to get to know those who they aren’t in direct contact with during their shift. One student describes it as a “very homogeneous and eclectic group of people who [initially] don’t know each other but become a family.”

In the dishroom, there are typically three to four students at the front collecting, rinsing, and loading dirty dishes into the machine and one student working in the back to unload and get the dishes ready to be taken back out to the cafeteria. Finally, the runner assists to unload and works to deliver the dishes out to the café. The runner is also responsible for ascertaining that all juice, flavored water, and milk machines are filled throughout the shift. I started working as a runner this semester, and although I was apprehensive at first, I’ve greatly enjoyed the position. I love the satisfaction of getting a job done independently and knowing that others can rely on my work.

While they tend to have many more open shifts in the beginning of the semester, MAP tends to accept sign-ups throughout the semester. In addition to their day-to-day scheduling flexibility, if your schedule develops an opening any time throughout the semester, you’re always welcome to search for a shift, or add another shift, in MAP. In the same way, if a shift ends up being too much for you, you can easily cross your name off, let the supervisor know, and drop it for that time. If this sounds like the perfect on-campus job for you the way it was for me, then don’t be afraid to come in and sign up when you arrive in the fall!

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From the Spotlight to the Wings: Working in the Theatre

On-campus jobs are plentiful at Grove City College. Whether it’s working the sidelines of a Grove City football game or handling orders at the print shop, Grove City offers a multitude of options for work opportunities. For the last three years I’ve had the pleasure of working as a Pew Fine Arts Center Technician, which has been an interesting change from my first stage experience performing in Les Miserables.

Over the years, we’ve had a few leadership and job description changes, but the end goal of the PFAC Techs, as we affectionately call ourselves, has always been to run events held in Grove City College’s Ketler Auditorium, the primary stage on campus.

During both the Fall and the Spring semesters, Ketler houses theatre productions, dance shows, orchestra concerts, jazz band concerts, admitted students presentations, prospective student presentations, and, honestly, more than that.

10626373_10152448628047647_2978170312094587328_oMedia Services is the branch of Grove City’s faculty and student employees charged with bringing together multimedia events across campus. The PFAC Techs are a special group of Media Services employees dedicated to the events that occur in Ketler.

It’s been an honor to work with a group of such passionate individuals in such a fast paced setting like Ketler. The employees traditionally are involved in the theatre department’s technical aspects and are then directed to apply to the PFAC techs.

The events we work typically aren’t overly demanding, but they still require our utmost attention. Say I was working audio for an orchestra concert, and I forgot to turn the microphone on. If this happened, and I were also on friendly terms with the conductor, theoretically the conductor may embarrass me by calling my name out in front of the audience and then continue to thank me for turning the microphone on every time he spoke. Not that that has happened… But if it did, the audience and the conductor and I would have gotten a kick out of it.

All of the shenanigans aside though, there’s nothing like working backstage, providing the technical support for the likes of President McNulty and, coming up, Mark Levin. There’s a service aspect that is oft overlooked, but it’s at the core of what we do. We’re employed to assist. We’re not the stars. We’re not under the lights. The lights, however, wouldn’t be on if we weren’t there.