The word from a veteran student staffer

For the last week or so, whenever I’m passing through the back of the office where our student staffers sit, someone’s busy date stamping, or envelope opening, or label sticking, or doing any of the other little tasks that are critical to producing application files that are ready to be reviewed.  I’m going to be honest here — much of the work doesn’t take advantage of our students’ brain power.  In fact, looked at in isolation, the tasks are menial.  It’s important for the students to maintain a sense of perspective — that without the completion of these tasks, the office’s work would never get done.

Beyond broad perspective, there are two main traits that fuel efficiency in the office.  The first is that students are already operating at max brain power every day.  Coming into the office and perfecting their date stamping can be just the ticket for relieving stress.

The second helpful trait is a sense of humor.  I just received an email from the student worker I referred to in this post, who was accused of working in a call center.  Of course, Sudila has gone off to a fabulous job, but he is still nostalgic for his Admissions days.  Here’s what he wrote.  Note that he’s referencing one task of packing a DVD about Fletcher for mailing.

Sorry I missed this email earlier, but reading the blog post made me laugh.  The days in the Admissions Office were so great.  I always talk about it whenever I meet past Fletcher students.  I hope the new crew is as fiercely competitive as we were.  And I do hope my coveted DVD Stuffing Record still stands:  97 DVDs stuffed in five minutes.  Daisuke came in a close second with 95.  It was so competitive  that we had to bring an international referee (Carol Murphy, Fletcher’s International Student Advisor).  Even Laurie stopped her work and came out to see the competition.  It just goes to show that the Admissions Office staff really appreciates the work of the student workers.  I am sure that every student who works there will have very fond memories of the Admissions Office.

And, as I assume you can tell, we have fond memories of them, too!  A photo of Sudila and Daisuke (and their DVD Stuffing Awards) still adorns our wall.