The University of Arkansas offers a variety of on-campus jobs for students in different departments from food and drinks to housing. There are opportunities for our young adults to balance their academic studies, life and work, in a reasonable manner. Logan Mann, a sociology graduate student, is a current Hill Coffee employee and graduate assistant. He not only brews coffee and tea on campus, but helps professors grade assignments and participate in research.
Mann said he believed it is good that students have access to work on campus because of the scheduling flexibility and respect from managers. He recounted his previous off-campus jobs about how people might not understand or respect a student’s workload.
“If you’re a student that is looking for a job, always look on campus first because I’ve had jobs off-campus, but working on campus is great because everything feels manageable,” Mann said.
Jacob Shepherd, a junior majoring in biology, is currently working as a university
housing resident assistant (RA). He said there are vast roles as a RA.
“We have duty, which is every night,” Shepherd said. “We also have to work desk and give out packages or rent out equipment.” RAs have many terminologies, so Shepherd said there is a disconnection between the RAs and their residents because of the lack of explanations.
“It’s disheartening when you hear stuff that can be avoided because I’m trying to involve as many people as possible,” Shepherd said.”Involvement means understanding what I do, understanding what you do, and feeling comfortable to be in GroupMe and say what you want to say.”
He said if someone has doors that have been closed in their face because of their identity, it can be scary to think about working student jobs.
“The reality is getting a job on campus, related to campus like an RA, can actually really acclimate you to campus and get those doors open to you that were unfairly closed,” Shepherd said. He said he would not have felt a fraction of what he feels about the campus if he did not have a student job.
“When you get a job on campus, you realize there are things for you and you can be safe and you can be who you are,” Shepherd said. “You can find a way to get to those places that other people are being given and you’re just as deserving.”