photos by Amanda Pitts
by Michele Coffill
video by Jeremy Knickerbocker

There are more than 3,500 student employees at Grand Valley who help with daily tasks that keep the university running.

Campus Dining and Public Safety hire the most students workers to help with meals and traffic control. These student workers have rather unique jobs.

Student Maintenance Workers

Juliana Alvarado, left and Amber Blackmore work for Facilities Services and occasionally perform a job few people think about.

During the winter, Alvarado and Blackmore, along with other student employees, clean and maintain the tunnels that run the length of the Allendale Campus and house the utility pipes that route steam and water to buildings. When not cleaning the tunnels, they are busy making campus deliveries and performing other maintenance tasks.

Alvarado, an exercise science major, said she appreciates her new job skills. “I had never used a drill before working here,” she said. Alvarado also works at the Mary Idema Pew Library Learning and Information Commons.

Blackmore, a business management major, said she and other student workers completed a safety training course before starting their jobs with Facilities Services.

“It’s a fun job, we also get to go to the department’s chili cook-off and holiday parties,” she said.

Support Staff Member

When Anthony Christian-McDonell gets to his work site, many excited preschoolers rush up to him for hugs and high fives. Christian-McDonell, an exercise science major, has worked at the Children’s Enrichment Center for one year.

“It’s great,” he said. “I get a real sense of accomplishment; I’m coming to work and making a difference.”

Christian-McDonell works with preschool and after-school kids at the center, which enrolls children of students, faculty and staff members, alumni and community members.

He said it’s great work experience to add to his resume. Christian-McDonell said he would like to pursue a job that keeps him working with kids and helping to keep them healthy through a sports program or camp.

Emerging Technology Specialist

Brook Staley, a criminal justice major, must have one of the coolest, high-tech jobs on campus. As part of her duties in the Mary Idema Pew Library Technology Showcase, Staley gives visitors tours of its gadgets like Google Glass, the SMART Board or Google Cardboard, which works with a smartphone to give participants a virtual reality experience.

Staley had a student job in the library working with the 3-D printer last year. When the MakerBot was incorporated into the Tech Showcase, Staley successfully applied to be an emerging technology specialist.

“I had customer service experience from Meijer and worked with kids, and they liked that,” she said. “You never know what kids will throw at you.”

Staley called herself a “tech junkie” and said she used to tinker with computers. Staley said when new pieces are introduced to the showcase, supervisor Eric Kunnen will tell her “to play with it and learn it.”

Group Exercise Instructor

Emily Owen, an exercise science major, has worked for Campus Recreation for four years. She started as a softball umpire and basketball referee and has progressed to her current roles of supervising game officials and teaching exercise classes.

Owen said she wanted to earn certification to lead Spinning and TRX classes after participating in many classes. “I realized it was a perfect way to apply the knowledge I was learning in my classes and to get a chance to be creative with my classes and build relationships with participants as I helped them with their fitness goals,” she said.

Switchboard Operator

Callers to Grand Valley’s switchboard might speak with Neal Sosnowski, who has been transferring calls to people and campus departments for three years from a small office in Mackinac Hall.

Sosnowski and a co-worker sit side-by-side at a desk wearing headsets to transfer callers via a computer keyboard.

Sosnowski earned a bachelor’s degree in photography in 2011 and is now pursuing a degree in electrical engineering. He said most phone calls come between 10 a.m.-noon and 3-4 p.m.; the most requested departments callers ask for are Records/ Registration and Financial Aid. He sometimes plays the role of a detective, helping to find the correct person based on a smattering of clues. Sosnowski and other switchboard operators answered more than 126,000 calls last year.