2008 Woodie Awards
Working for the weekend
For some students, 'school work' has a different meaning
Emma Potvin
Issue date: 12/10/07 Section: News
With tests to study for, books to read and papers to write, in addition to time spent in the classroom, college students lead busy lives. But some, whose parents are unable or unwilling to help pay for college, have to fit one more thing into their busy schedules - a job.
For these students, college is not about partying, social networking or watching hockey games. It has to be about organization, prioritizing and hoping to make some time to sleep.
"I've always been a pretty organized person, but I took that to a whole new level when I got to college," said Kelsey Numrych, a senior double majoring in psychology and sociology.
Numrych worked three jobs the summer after high school, and has been working her way through college ever since. This school year is the first year she has held less than two jobs at a time.
Numrych has worked in coffee shops, clerked in sports stores and done data entry. For the last three school years she has worked as an administrative aid at the Marketplace. It pays well enough that she can afford to work 20 hours a week and make tuition payments.
She says she'll finish the semester with a 3.0 grade point average. "My grades have been sacrificed … but I've got to work, there's no other option."
Josiah Harrison-Benjamin, a junior majoring in social work, said "Sometimes sleep has to be held off because work and school get in the way so much."
Harrison-Benjamin got his first job when he was 15. "I was told that I wasn't going to hang out with my friends in the neighborhood all summer. That I was getting a job." He worked as a bagger at a Stop and Shop. "I had to find my own transportation to work, and I wasn't old enough to drive," he said.
While he was in elementary school, Harrison-Benjamin dreamed about going to college, "I remember my mother saying that 'I am not going to pay for it'," he said.
Harrison-Benjamin is paying for his own education. He works full-time as a psychology technician at Acadia Hospital during the school year. During the summer, he holds two jobs. Last summer he "worked 80-plus hours a week and raked in a lot of cash," he said. "But all that flew away in my tuition."
For these students, college is not about partying, social networking or watching hockey games. It has to be about organization, prioritizing and hoping to make some time to sleep.
"I've always been a pretty organized person, but I took that to a whole new level when I got to college," said Kelsey Numrych, a senior double majoring in psychology and sociology.
Numrych worked three jobs the summer after high school, and has been working her way through college ever since. This school year is the first year she has held less than two jobs at a time.
Numrych has worked in coffee shops, clerked in sports stores and done data entry. For the last three school years she has worked as an administrative aid at the Marketplace. It pays well enough that she can afford to work 20 hours a week and make tuition payments.
She says she'll finish the semester with a 3.0 grade point average. "My grades have been sacrificed … but I've got to work, there's no other option."
Josiah Harrison-Benjamin, a junior majoring in social work, said "Sometimes sleep has to be held off because work and school get in the way so much."
Harrison-Benjamin got his first job when he was 15. "I was told that I wasn't going to hang out with my friends in the neighborhood all summer. That I was getting a job." He worked as a bagger at a Stop and Shop. "I had to find my own transportation to work, and I wasn't old enough to drive," he said.
While he was in elementary school, Harrison-Benjamin dreamed about going to college, "I remember my mother saying that 'I am not going to pay for it'," he said.
Harrison-Benjamin is paying for his own education. He works full-time as a psychology technician at Acadia Hospital during the school year. During the summer, he holds two jobs. Last summer he "worked 80-plus hours a week and raked in a lot of cash," he said. "But all that flew away in my tuition."
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