Readers remember their jobs at Colgate during the sunny season.
Shana Shapiro ’19, Outdoor Education’s Wilderness Adventure coordinator, 2018
I had an awesome experience! I organized the trips and managed summertime programming. I was responsible for organizing food and gear for the trips, securing wilderness permits, facilitating arrival and departure days, and more. Since a large portion of the incoming first-year class goes on a Wilderness Adventure, it was super rewarding to help the trips come together and see so many people having fun, safe, and welcoming experiences. Outside of work, I had the chance to live in Hamilton [when it wasn’t] the busy school year, and there was a great community to share it with.
Brenna McConnell ’24, Office of Sustainability intern, 2022
I worked on a team with four other interns. This role was flexible and varied, as we worked on a large variety of sustainability initiatives across campus. A big part of the work during the summer was working in the Community Garden, which we had the chance to cultivate for the first time in its new location. The team completed the laborious task of bringing in fresh soil to create the rows and beds in the garden, planted and seeded the whole space, and weeded and watered several times per week. We learned organic farming practices, which was particularly important when we were attempting to deal with an aphid problem in the rows with greens like lettuce, kale, and bok choy. Some cool garden-related projects that we worked on included building and registering a Little Free Library that sits next to the back gate, as well as research on what types of native plants would be the best to use for a pollinator garden.
Outside of the garden projects, two initiatives I worked on included research on best practices for sustainability in the office, which I used to update an existing Green Office checklist for faculty and staff [members], as well as research on ways that the Office of Sustainability could support the existing end-of-year Salvage Program that the COVE runs to increase the program’s efficacy and positive environmental impact. I loved this work so much because it combined an extremely diverse range of work. One day I would be in the garden, the next doing research on important sustainability topics, and the next tackling miscellaneous tasks like reorganizing and finding a home for thousands of extra donated hangers or cleaning and counting reusable utensil kits that the office lends to students during the semester.
Kim M. Wilborn ’89, tour guide, 1987
Worked for admissions! I would give my future husband a tour. My time in Hamilton during the summer was really special. I house and dog sat for Professor Michael Johnston while he and his family enjoyed a summer abroad in London related to his research. The memories range from specific — 4th of July parade — to overarching. I have wonderful pictures of the parade that depict the true small-town, Americana, theme of Hamilton. Summer in Hamilton was about more than living on my own, figuring out grocery shopping, etc. I made such unique and special friendships over the summer. They would be a treasure through my remaining years on campus. There is something indescribable about the band of students who remain and the quieter campus of summer.
Rachel Plasky ’25, Career Services Job Skills Accelerator, 2023
[The accelerator] was one part professional development sessions, one part alumni shadowing, and one part credentialing. For the professional development sessions, all of us participated in workshops led by various Colgate staff [members], related to such topics as leadership, networking, LinkedIn, and effective communication. These sessions really boosted my confidence in navigating the professional world: Not only do I know how to represent myself well on my résumé and LinkedIn, but I also feel less daunted by connecting with alums and generally asserting myself professionally. Each of us was also paired up with an alum for a “micro-internship,” which consisted of a combination of shadowing and assignments. I worked with Lisa Lee-Trostle ’12, head of North America communications at H&M, and I had the privilege to sit in on some of her meetings and review a major report. As an English major, it was helpful to gain insight into one of the potential career paths and see how modern-day jobs function. To round out the experience, we all completed a credential, which is a kind of course that focuses on professional skills not always taught in the classroom. My credential was the Poynter ACES Certificate in Editing course, and I found that learning the formal rules of editing paired well with my hands-on experience with the revision process.
Fairuz Ishraque ’22, astronomy research assistant, 2019
I worked with Professor [Tom] Balonek as an astronomy research assistant at the end of my first year. I helped maintain the 16-inch telescope as well as use it to detect flares in a number of quasars we were routinely observing. Later I helped run the telescope for the observational astronomy course ASTR:312 in fall 2019.
I was fortunate to be involved closely with the observatory in one way or another for most of my time at Colgate.
Did you have a summer job on campus? Write to us at magazine@colgate.edu.