by Derek Johnson

Created on: November 04, 2008   Last Updated: September 10, 2009

Chris Curtin, a senior, works at SBU Delivery at Roth Dining Hall on campus, delivering pizza pies from the campus pizzeria to the residence halls. He goes to work two nights a week wearing a blue, short-sleeved shirt that says Eat Learn Live, and a black baseball cap with the Campus Dining Services logo. He uses his car to make his rounds when he works. SBU Delivery gives him half a dollar for gas every time he makes a delivery and he gets tips sometimes.

"Cash is my motivation for work," Curtin said, "Work is not important at all. I just go."

For students at Stony Brook University, money helps them get through a college career. Bills, tuition, pocket money-there are many reasons why students work. It is hard, though, for these students to juggle academics and a part-time job. Time management is one of the keys to success between full-time classes, part-time jobs and parties.

There are Stony Brook students who work for other reasons then money. Learning is the reason most students go to classes, and it is the same reason for why they work. "I do it for experience," said Osmilda Del Rosario, a senior who works for the Residential Programs Department at the Tabler Quad Office. "Eventually it'll be for money, but now it is experience and growth, experience in the work field."

Working with others at a part-time job is like working in a family. Students create bonds with the people they work with and that is beneficial for students and their future careers. Inter-personal skills, as well as communicational skills, develop and strengthen, preparing them for the road ahead. Teamwork is an important factor in company jobs, for instance.

For Del Rosario, "work is more of a social environment with co-workers. It's usually more fun than sitting in class." Curtin adds that "the job is like being on a team."

These factors, no matter how much they make students comfortable at their jobs, still distract them from the main reason they go to Stony Brook University: an education.

"My problem is mental," said Adlai Allen, a junior, as he ate a Hot Pocket and drank a Budweiser. "There are two places I want to give 100 percent to everything." The other place for him is Fresh Meadow Country Club in Great Neck.

He is a manager at the Country Club where he says he helps organize social events at the club, greets people, and makes sure everything runs smoothly, among many other things. "It absorbs energy even when I'm here [on campus]It's always in my mind."

The energy that Allen is describing

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