Only a few days after arriving at Dartmouth, I quite literally stumbled upon my job. The Hopkins Center was hosting an open house to show freshmen what opportunities it offered for students to get involved in the arts. As I ventured inside, I saw a sign hanging on the glass doors across from Hinman that said, “work-study students needed.”I pushed the door open slightly, and was immediately captivated by the organized chaos that filled the massive space. In the far corner, a 20-foot-tall hairspray can stood on top of an industrial shelf stacked high with wooden planks. A cabinet painted like the tardis from “Doctor Who” was in the center of the room, and the door to the stage was covered with images from the “Wizard of Oz,” the yellow paint trailing from the brick road onto the floor. I followed the signs onto the Moore stage where the theater department had set up tables displaying various work opportunities they offered.
The nearest table had a sign taped to the front that read, “WORK STUDY ELIGIBLE — NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY.” The man seated behind the table, who I would later learn was the department’s assistant technical director, was wearing a Grinch T-shirt and black Carhartt work pants. I approached him, skeptical that I had found something so easily. He assured me they would teach me everything I needed to know.I started work at the scene shop, where the sets for student productions are created, the next week. It was immediately apparent that this was not your typical work environment. My bosses refused to let me call them sir, and they cracked jokes when I made mistakes instead of scolding me for them.The shop was my own personal getaway from the rest of campus. I was able to find value in building things with my own hands in such a relaxed and goofy atmosphere.It wasn’t easy to be in a completely new environment miles away from my home in North Carolina, but the scene shop gave me a sense of comfort and belonging that eased the transition into Dartmouth.C.J. Jones ’16, who started working at Novack Café her freshman year, also said the casual environment was what initially attracted her to the job.“I enjoy the relaxed atmosphere that comes with working in a café,” Jones said. “It’s one of the few places where I get to do things with my hands and move around, which is a nice reprieve from a lot of the heavy thinking we have to do on the day to day.”Jones also highlighted the patience that she’s developed through her job and the way it’s helped her learn how to mitigate tense situations. She said that many times students are disrespectful or short-tempered when waiting for service, sometimes ignoring the employees to text on their phones or getting angry when the line is taking too long.“The way that people sometimes talk to you and the way they interact with you can be frustrating, but you have to handle that professionally without letting it get to you,” she said.Maximillian Saint-Preux ’15, who worked for both GreenCorps and One Wheelock during his freshman year, said the discipline he gained from made the frustrating aspects of working worth it.“Having a job offered a certain level of discipline because no one was checking up on me anymore, which made the transition into college life easier,” Saint-Preux said. “I had to start being more independent and keep myself on track because there wasn’t anyone else doing it."This sense of self-fulfillment heavily impacted my experience at Dartmouth as well. During my first term, after realizing my classes were now full of incredibly intelligent students from all around the world, I struggled with feeling like I was really contributing something worthwhile to my classes. With such a short term with only a few grades in each course, I found the lack of evidence of my hard work in the classroom frustrating. I was relieved every time I entered the scene shop, where my successes and mistakes were immediately apparent and I received constant feedback from my bosses.This consistency made the difference freshman fall for Pauline Lewis ’16. “Everything was new and sometimes overwhelming,” she said. During her freshman year, Lewis delivered copies of The Dartmouth around campus and worked at the Collis smoothie station.“During freshman year I felt that there was an excessive need to find a group that you belong to,” she said. “While I was doing different things like sports and clubs, I felt like my job was the most stable place to form relationships because it was consistent,” Lewis said.
She said working with the same people several times a week gave them an opportunity to talk and get to know each other more closely.The first few months of college can be overwhelming at times, when you’re suddenly bombarded with new responsibilities and thousands of new faces at once. Working with the same people day in and day out creates a specific kind of bond. The sense of community I developed through my job was a comforting haven when Dartmouth became a bit too hectic.I still value these same things about my job — the labor, the relationships, the atmosphere and the consistency. While there are certainly days when the job becomes tedious and I’d rather be in bed, there has not been a day where I have not walked into the shop and felt at home. Finding a job you love on campus is not just a way to make money, but an opportunity to learn more about yourself and your place at Dartmouth.Saint-Preux is a former member of The Dartmouth staff.
