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Eager to dive into campus life at CU? Well Buffs, you’re in luck! There are plenty of different ways to get involved on campus and in the CU Boulder community. Whether it is through student organizations, on-campus jobs, leadership roles or volunteering, there is a place for everyone to find their home in the Buff community. 

I spoke with CU students Ryan Sheldon, Ariana Falco and Anissa Estrada to hear about their experiences in getting involved by working different on-campus jobs at CU. 

When it came to searching for a job, all three of these students used Buff Portal to search through various on-campus positions. Ryan described how easy it was to find his job at the CU Book Store, “I was able to go through and see all of the jobs in different buildings and stumbled across the Book Store opening. They replied to me very quickly.” 

Working at the CU Book Store is a great way to meet new people and get involved. “It introduces you to a group of students that you probably wouldn’t meet otherwise who are in different clubs, come from different parts of the country or who are involved in different things. The Book Store is also a go-to spot for students – it’s the campus hotspot. You get to meet the incoming freshman on their campus tours, alumni who are coming back for football games and you really get to be in the middle of everything, in terms of campus, by working at the Book Store which is super cool,” says Ryan. 

A helpful benefit to on-campus jobs is that your co-workers and bosses are very accommodating to your school schedule and work load, since they recognize that you are a CU student. “It didn’t affect my academic performance and it was very easy to get a shift covered if I had a big test coming up,” says Ryan. 

Ryan’s job at the Book Store not only helped him meet new people, but has also made him more aware of the CU community and campus life. “I have so much more knowledge about what is going on at different parts of the school.” 

Working at the Book Store, “you are essentially the face of campus when you are working with customers.” Ryan takes pride in knowing that he is helping out fellow Buffs day-to-day. 

Similar to Ryan, Ariana enjoys how her student jobs are very flexible with her schedule. Ariana currently works three different campus jobs. She is an advisor for the Program of Exploratory Studies, a student writer for the Student Affairs Communications team and has a research position. 

“I feel like a veil was lifted when I started working at CU because I didn’t feel super involved since I’m not in Greek life or anything, but all my jobs are kind of different, and I can see how everything in higher education overlaps. From a student perspective, this informs me about a lot more things going on on campus,” says Ariana. 

Through her various jobs, Ariana has met many of her closest friends. “A lot of my friends had their friend groups established their freshman year, but I did not. Then I realized a lot of my friends came from work once I got these jobs. It’s okay to find your people in a different way than others, especially now with COVID it’s hard for your students to meet each other, so I think jobs really help.” 

In addition, Ariana is pursuing an advertising degree, so working with Student Affairs Communication has really helped her to explore a potential career path that she would like to go down. “My Student Affairs Communication job gives me a place to be able to actually write and sit down and take the time to polish something up, which I feel like I don’t get to do a lot in my classes because they are very specific, and this I actually get to put my voice into. It has also shown me what a communications department looks like if I wanted to do something like this in the future.” 

When I asked Ariana for some advice when it comes to getting involved, she said “try saying yes to things that you’d usually say no to. I started doing that my sophomore year and I could see a huge difference just in my life, from freshman year of not really being involved and then sophomore year having a ton of things to do. It just made me feel more motivated. I definitely feel like I’m pretty involved at the school now and I have a lot of connections. It definitely gives me a sense of community.” 

Anissa works in CU Events Planning & Catering and feels very similarly. She said that she has learned a lot about the school from working her on-campus job and loves the connections and the community that she has built. 

“Working at the UMC you get to know the full-time staff very well. Our staff does an amazing job of making us feel included. Before finals they will give us goody bags to wish us good luck and it’s the little things such as that which make you feel more appreciated. It feels like our own little community,” says Anissa. 

So Buffs, if you are looking for ways to get involved I definitely encourage you to search for jobs on the CU Boulder in your Buff Portal. Not only will you earn money, but you will also have the opportunity to branch out and meet new people!