Students are kicking off the new school year by moving forward with classes and returning to their jobs on campus.
SHU offers a variety of off- campus jobs from tutoring to being a desk assistant.
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Junior Chris McNeil works as a desk assistant in Aquinas Hall.
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Chris McNeil, a junior a diplomacy, international relations and economics major, started his school year early as a Desk Assistant (D.A.) at Aquinas Hall. Primarily, his responsibility is to verify students entering the building by swiping their I.D. through a card reader.
“It’s really not stressful at all,” McNeil said. “The people here are really nice. I love my co-workers and everyone is so friendly and polite when they walk in.”
McNeil is now beginning his second year as a D.A. He is well-recognized for telling students to “enjoy their stay at Aquinas,” almost as if they were staying at a hotel, and to “take it easy.”
“I know that a lot of freshmen at Aquinas are really new here, especially if they come from far away, and it’s hard to find that ‘home away from home,” said McNeil. I want to make sure that I can provide that comfortable feeling to them and just make it easier.”
He also holds a parking valet job off-campus on the weekends.
Leah Milano, a junior occupational therapy major, is a tutor and a supplemental instructor for Seton Hall’s Academic Resource Center (ARC). Milano specializes in tutoring anatomy as well as 22 other courses she has taken since freshman year.
“What really encouraged me to become a tutor was that I really get to help people succeed,” Milano said. “I really wanted to give people the same experience that I received when I was being tutored here at ARC.”
Milano works at the ARC three hours a day on weekdays. However, she tutors for more than 35 hours a week. She is highly-recommended to students that need assistance with anatomy, and as a result, she has had to arrange tutoring sessions with students outside of her work hours so that they are not turned down for help when they need it the most.
“The first anatomy exam is coming up and I have a bunch of worried students coming to me and asking me for help,” Milano said. “Even though technically it is not my time to tutor, I know what it’s like to be in their position, so I usually try to meet up with them on the weekends.”
Milano said that she is often told to make time for herself, but she rarely does that because she wants to continue helping others and does not like turning students down.
“My schedule has become so complex that I have to organize everything using the sticky notes on my computer,” Milano said, as she devotes her evenings to completing schoolwork and studying for her own classes.
Dan Cummings, a senior physics major on the pre-med track, and Nkili Cooper, a sophomore history major, both work for the Seton Hall Blue Crew. Blue Crew is comprised of Seton Hall students that give campus tours to students and families.
“Basically, we are the ambassadors for the university. We are the first part of Seton Hall culture that is exposed to incoming students,” Cummings said.
Available Blue Crew students on duty will tour their groups of about one-to-five families around campus according to Cummings. The students are also responsible for organizing and running open house events, scholarship receptions and Pirate Preview.
Cooper, who started working for Blue Crew this year, says that she has become a better public speaker through her job.
“I really like to give my personal taste of the University and how it has affected me and in the end I’m hoping that this will influence the students to want to come here,” Cooper said.
Cummings is now in his third year of being a tour guide for Blue Crew and said, “I think we have one of the most important jobs on campus. We are making an impact on these students on choosing whether to come here or not, which is ultimately a life-changing decision.”
A list of job opportunities can be found on the Seton Hall Careers website at jobs.shu.edu.
Liam Oakes can be reached at Liam.Oakes@student.shu.edu.
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