One of the most unique things about my college experience is my work-study job. Work-study is a federally funded program that allows students to work part time to earn money for college expenses. Since I qualify for work study, I made it my top priority to find a work study job my freshmen year. During welcome week, I attended a student job fair which had representatives for every on-campus student job. I applied for every job possible, but I ended up accepting a position with Trojan Events & Services (TE). TE itself is a very broad department, containing receptionists, Ground Zero baristas, and tech staff. I personally work as part of the house staff in the various performance venues around campus.
The house staff, also known as the ushers, is responsible for interacting with all the patrons that attend an event. We take their tickets and help them find their seats, all while enforcing fire code, capacity, and the rules of the specific venue. We primarily work in Bovard Auditorium, but also have shifts in the Campus Center Ballroom and the smaller theatres like Bing, McClintock, and Scenedock.
The inside of Bovard, it used to be a church!
The most exciting part of my job is getting to watch all the cool events that I am scheduled for. Particularly in Bovard, we sometimes get some very high profile people! Because we need to stay inside to monitor the patrons, the ushers get paid to watch all the events. The past two years I have gotten to work some really big shifts, with the biggest one being Elton John. Hearing his music live was incredible, and he even sang my favorite song of his, “Your Song.” I have also worked Will Ferrell, the Beach Boys, Workaholics, Ian Somerhalder, and just a week ago I worked Stan Lee, the founder of Marvel!
Team House Staff posing after the Stan Lee shift!
Working security for Ian Somerhalder. He winked at me when he entered backstage!
Besides working incredible events, I also really like all my coworkers. We call ourselves the TE Family because we are more than just co-workers – we are actually friends! Most of the people I work with I would have never gotten to known otherwise because we are all different majors and years. It is nice to have a sense of community within TE because it makes me excited to go to work and get to see all the other ushers.
Once we played Twister during a long dark period at a shift in the Ballrooom!
If you are interested in getting a student job, I would highly recommend attending the student job fair. There is one at the beginning of every semester, and it is really easy to apply for a bunch of jobs. There is also a portal here, which contains openings throughout the year. And if you are interested, working as an usher for TE is always a great option. Fight on!
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