Job Hunting

Often, college students who live away from home in a dorm or in an apartment, are compelled to find a full or part-time job in order to help support themselves. In a college town such as Lexington, there are certainly plenty of opportunities for students to find a job, however, choosing one that fits into your academic schedule is important. You should not lose sight of the fact that your main goal is to get an education.

The reason I'm discussing this particular subject is due to frequent posts on "Facebook" from my friends stressing out about their job shifts. These energetic, high achieving students are working under a demanding schedule most people wouldn't handle. Many go straight from classes to their job without have any down time or time to study and do homework. While it is nice to earn an income that can provide you with more than just the bare necessities, spreading yourself too thin can cause your health and your studies to suffer. Your health can suffer from lack of sleep and exercise, and too much stress. Your studies can suffer by not allotting yourself enough time to study and work on class assignments. Sometimes you have to look at the big picture and decide if the added pressure of a job is worth the benefits. If not, then you just need to find ways to tighten the belt a little while you are going to school (e.g., eating in more often; making do with the clothes you have; finding less expensive means of entertainment, etc.).

If you have to work, the trick then is to find a job that offers you, the student, some flexibility. One of the first places to look for work is with the school. Most schools offer work-study opportunities whereby you earn wages from working on the campus a few hours a day a few days a week, such as in the library or offices. Often your school supervisors will work with you to change your hours to accommodate your school schedule or you can switch shifts with other students. This provides the most flexibility to students.

Another source of work is to check with friends or relatives to see if they might have some part-time work. I have worked part-time as a file clerk/runner for the law firm where my mother works for the past couple of years. Because my employer knows that I am a student, they allow me to work the hours that are convenient to me. This allows me to have enough time for my school work, while still working a few hours each week to earn some extra spending money. During school breaks, I increase my hours and thereby increase my salary. During mid-terms and finals, I lessen my hours.

Working for a temporary services agency might provide a student with the flexibility they need. Once you complete the application and testing process, you can let the agency know what days or times you are able to work and they will provide you with assignments as they come available. The only draw back is that there may not always be work available that fits your schedule when you need it. You can also take a weekend job such as at Amazon.com where you work 12 hours shifts, which means that by working a weekend you can earn as much as working part-time every night of the week. This frees your week nights up for studying and doing school work.

Another possibility for work is to become an entrepreneur. Come up with a service that you can offer to others for a price. As an example, dog walking, animal sitting, baby sitting, doing laundry/ironing, transporting students without cars, house sit for professors or other students, etc.).

These are just a few suggestions. The possibilities for flexible employment are endless if you just put your mind to it. Regardless what job you take, remember to keep your eye on the ball (i.e. completing your education).

Under The Lights

A couple of weekend ago, I traveled to Louisville to attended the Kentucky State regional marching band competition also known as KMEA . For those not familiar with marching band competition, this is an annual competition for many highly talented and prestigious high school marching bands from all corners of the Bluegrass. The bands that score high enough in the marching season, earn a spot in KMEA's semi finals and have hopes of making it to the finals for a chance to win the Governor's Cup. There are five different classes depending upon the size of a school's student body with the smallest being Class 1A and the largest being Class 5A. Earlier in the day, the bands from each class competed against eachother in semi-finals competition in order to narrow the field to four schools in each class. These schools later in the evening compete against eachother in their respective class in the Finals competition with a first, second, and third place winner being decided for each class.

I lettered in band in high school, so I was quite familiar with the annual KMEA competition and was lucky enough to be in bands that made it to the KMEA finals three years in a row. When I was a sophmore, I was in Nicholas Co. High School's 1A band which placed fourth in the KMEA finals. As a junior and senior, I was in Lafayette High School's 5A band which placed second in the KMEA finals during my junior year, then placed first when I was a senior.

This year was the first time that I had been to a marching band competition where I was a spectator instead of a performer. The weather for early November could not have been more perfect for the outdoors competition which was held at Papa John's Stadium. It was in the low to mid 70s during the day and only got into the 50s late in the evening. The sky was blue and the competition field green. I found the competition to be very enjoyable from a spectator's point of view. It was interesting to actually watch bands perform whom I had previously competed against. Having never really had the opportunity to watch these bands perform, except on video tape, I was really blown away by some of their performances.

This single day of great music and performances made me realize that the most important moment of the season is also the most intense. During my previous trips to KMEA with the Nicholas County and Lafayette Band, I was so focused on and stressed about the quality of my performance and of the overall performance of our band, that I forgot to just simply enjoy the day. As a performer, our day began early in the morning and was filled with practice sessions, preparation for and performance in the semi-finals; then we had to turn around and do it again for finals later that evening. As a performer, every minute of our day was planned for us and I basically just went with the flow. During our performance it was nerve racking to be on the field looking up into the stadium filled with people. The experience was quite different this years as a spectator looking down from the stadium as Lafayette took the field this year. I was filled with a sense of awe and pride. Lafayette was the largest marching band in the competition with 200 members on the field. It was impressive to watch their marching precision and to hear the percussion and drumline. I did find that as a spectator, I was filled with as much anticipation as when I was a performer, in waiting for the judges to announce the winner. I was exciting to hear Lafayette's name announced this year, and to be able to go down onto the field to celebrate and contratulate my former bandmates. It filled me with a sense of nostalia and pride.