The simple things in life are free, but the labor is not. Behind every dollop of whipped cream on top of frappuccinos, collated and stapled packet of papers, and email messages returned, there is a student worker.
Ithaca College employs over 500 students to work in a variety of job centers ranging from office assistants to pastry bakers in the dining halls. Without the average 10 hours a week that these busy students put in, Ithaca College would not be able to function.
Across the county, student workers are the backbone of colleges and universities.
Cornell University employs about 700 of its 13,000 students. These workers are expected to fulfill an average of 4-8 hours of work per week. At TC3, students work an average of 15 hours per week, and when classes are not in session, they are eligible to work up to 37 hours.
Most on-campus jobs at IC expect students to work an average of 8-12 hours per week. IC employers try to break up these hours by creating 2 or 3 hour long shifts in certain facilities. No matter the time of the shift, however, student workers typically struggle with balancing a job, schoolwork, and extracurricular activities around exam time.
Kevin Thornton, Manager of the Multimedia Production Facility, said he deals with stressed students often during finals week.
"Somebody came in Monday asking why the labs weren't open all day for exam week," he said. "She seemed really stressed out, and I had to tell her that with the schedule revolving around finals times there would be no point in having the labs open for one hour at a time."
Thornton said scheduling workers for finals week depends on exam times.
"Underclassmen can't be forced to work during finals week," he said. "I have to post a sign-up sheet based around the students' finals in order to get workers to cover shifts."
Ithaca College employs over 500 students to work in a variety of job centers ranging from office assistants to pastry bakers in the dining halls. Without the average 10 hours a week that these busy students put in, Ithaca College would not be able to function.
Across the county, student workers are the backbone of colleges and universities.
Cornell University employs about 700 of its 13,000 students. These workers are expected to fulfill an average of 4-8 hours of work per week. At TC3, students work an average of 15 hours per week, and when classes are not in session, they are eligible to work up to 37 hours.
Most on-campus jobs at IC expect students to work an average of 8-12 hours per week. IC employers try to break up these hours by creating 2 or 3 hour long shifts in certain facilities. No matter the time of the shift, however, student workers typically struggle with balancing a job, schoolwork, and extracurricular activities around exam time.
Kevin Thornton, Manager of the Multimedia Production Facility, said he deals with stressed students often during finals week.
"Somebody came in Monday asking why the labs weren't open all day for exam week," he said. "She seemed really stressed out, and I had to tell her that with the schedule revolving around finals times there would be no point in having the labs open for one hour at a time."
Thornton said scheduling workers for finals week depends on exam times.
"Underclassmen can't be forced to work during finals week," he said. "I have to post a sign-up sheet based around the students' finals in order to get workers to cover shifts."
The personalized pizza in La Vincita, the repair of a broken keyboard, and the ripped stub of a theater ticket are little tasks provided by student workers. To the everyday passerby these things are expected and taken for granted. To a student worker they are the fruits of labor.
Other students, like Christie, spend their day devoted to schoolwork and on-campus jobs...
No comments:
Post a Comment