Step inside the working lives of eight students.

1. Lizzie Traudt, graduate student, student teacher in the Krueger Parent and Child Care Center

For graduate student Lizzie Traudt, the giggles and coos of the children in the child care center are music to her ears.

Traudt, who was a veteran babysitter before college, builds off of her experience by working as a student teacher in the infant room in the Krueger Parent and Child Care Center, an on-campus daycare for the children of Marquette faculty and students.

“I spend about two to three hours here for three days a week,” Traudt says. “Initially, I was actually assigned to work here as a service learning component of my developmental psychology class about five years ago as an undergraduate student. The child care center has connections to service learning programs on campus, and it really opened my eyes to this daycare for the first time.”

On a typical day at the child care center, Traudt sees about three to four infants while working, which ensures that each baby gets special care and treatment.

Her love of the job goes so deep, that if it came down to it, Traudt wouldn’t work for a penny.

“If I had to, I would do it for free,” she says. “When I came to college, I missed being around kids, and this is my opportunity to be around children again. It is the perfect job for me.”

2. Megan Sicinski, freshman, Cobeen Hall cafeteria worker

Between serving food, cleaning dishes, making sandwiches and wraps, and tidying up the Cobeen dorm cafeteria after close, it seems as though Sicinski has her work cut out for her,  but she insists that it is very much a doable job.

“It is nice working in a dorm cafeteria,” Sicinski says. “Sometimes, it can be hard to work there for long hours if the main course of the day is something with a strong smell, though, because it can be nauseating and I come out of work smelling like ravioli or chicken nuggets, but it’s not so bad.”

The plus side?

“After working on hot cookie nights, I end up smelling amazing!”

Sicinski has found interacting with the student population to be fairly simple, stating, “It is really as easy as this: when you’re nice to the students, they are nice back to you.”

3. Danielle MacKenna, senior, LIMO driver

After going through extensive safety patrol training, a written exam and additional training, Danielle MacKenna has found her position as a Marquette LIMO driver extraordinarily satisfying.

“We’re like a family here, and everyone really gets to know each other,” MacKenna says. “It is a very positive environment to work in, and I love it, but it’s not for someone who is looking for something easy.”

Driving a LIMO requires a lot of skill and sharp multitasking abilities, which, according to MacKenna, can be a struggle to pick up initially.

“It can be difficult at first, but everyone is so helpful at SSP and the job is very enjoyable, but not overwhelming,” MacKenna says. “Since most of the driving takes place at night, LIMO driving is a great complement to my school schedule, which I appreciate.”

A crucial part of driving LIMOs around campus is interacting with students on campus, which MacKenna says is an enjoyable part of the job.

4. Mary Margaret Gough, senior, Cobeen Hall desk receptionist 

As a desk receptionist, Mary Margaret Gough has a lot on her plate.

“We desk receptionists act as the first line of defense in the dorms,” Gough says. “We act as an info desk, we screen residents with cards before allowing them into the building, we keep track of keys and we do mailroom work as well.”

Despite all of this work, she assures that it’s not a difficult job to balance with schoolwork.

Are there any downers for the desk receptionists?

“Occasionally, we get a disgruntled parent trying to reach a student who isn’t answering his or her cell phone, which isn’t the most fun, but that’s rare,” she says.

5. Caroline Mahon, sophomore, Zumba instructor 

Who doesn’t like to party? For Caroline Mahon, the party happens every Tuesday and Thursday, when she works as a certified Zumba instructor at Marquette’s Helfaer Tennis Stadium and Recreation Center. Zumba is a Latin-inspired aerobic dance workout that blends international and hip-hop music as a form of exercise.

“At first, classes were really hard,” Mahon says. “It’s much harder to teach than to take classes because everyone’s staring at you and if you’re not doing something, then everyone’s not doing something… so you just have to learn to keep moving.”

She first got involved in Zumba when her mother recommended that she take a class at a local community center. Her instructor for the class then advised that she become certified to teach her own class.

“At my training [class], they were like, ‘Your first class will not go well; you will mess up,’” Mahon says.

Now more comfortable with the class, Mahon is able to choreograph exciting new routines for her students by watching YouTube videos and listening to both hip-hop and Latin-inspired music.

6. Jeanna Mascitti, junior, bartender at Sobelman’s @ Marquette 

Sobelman’s @ Marquette has become a culinary staple on Marquette’s campus. While most students go to enjoy a famous burger or basket of cheese balls, Jeanna Mascitti goes to work behind the bar every Thursday night.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Mascitti says. “I enjoy talking to people and joking around with people at the bar and [with] the servers.”

Much of Mascitti’s job entails receiving and filling orders for beers or mixed drinks, while also providing people at the bar with menus and answering the phone for take-out orders.

Although she’s typically out of Sobelman’s by midnight, Mascitti says there have been nights she had to work at the bar as late as 2 a.m. While bartending can be fun, Mascitti says it’s not for everyone.

“I wouldn’t say that [bartending] is great for a lot of students that like to go to bed early or have 8 a.m. classes,” Mascitti says. “It works out really well for me; it fits my schedule perfectly.”

7. Maria Berthiaume, freshman, assistant at Sports Rehabilitation Clinic 

Fetching ice packs and assisting in clean-ups may seem like busy work, but Maria Berthiaume finds it to be a rewarding experience.

“Depending on the injury, [the clinic] is for strengthening and for massaging out swelling to get [the injury] back to functional mobility after an injury of some sort,” Berthiaume says.

As a physical therapy major, Berthiaume hopes to someday work as an athletic trainer at an Olympics Training Center. That is why, as a freshman, she finds that assisting in physical therapy and athletic training services, such as strength training and rehabilitation, is a rewarding experience.

“I’ve learned a lot about specific injuries and different techniques of rehab,” Berthiaume says. She says she has also benefited from opportunities to assist in the use of medical equipment, such as ultrasounds.

While working with a staff of primarily freshman and sophomore physical therapy majors has taught her a lot, Berthiaume says the Sports Rehabilitation Clinic itself is a great benefit to Marquette students.

8. Russell Johnston, sophomore, teaching assistant for ARSC labs

Having taken the class last year, Russell Johnston felt that working as a teaching assistant for the Concepts in Modern Science labs would help him reach his goal of being a teacher.

“I’m in there, as a sophomore, leading a bunch of freshmen through the lab, and it’s such good practice,” he says.

As a teaching assistant, Johnston is in charge of running a weekly lab, as well as grading lab reports and answering questions that students have regarding the class. “All of the TAs do the lab the week before and then somewhat act as a go-between for the professors and [the students],” Johnston says.

Even though he took the class as a freshman, he says it’s definitely not the same experience. “I view [the class] differently because you can kind of see the other side of things, what the teacher’s thinking about when she’s assigning all of this [work] and more of the reasoning behind everything,” Johnston says.

9. Ben Fate, sophomore, RHA vice president for campus relations

As acting vice president for Campus Relations for the Residence Hall Association, Ben Fate might not receive the benefits of a paid job. However, Fate takes on the leadership position for alternative reasons.

“A perk of working for RHA is that all the types of people who I work with are similar to me in that we really enjoy being student leaders and we like helping other people accomplish their goals,” Fate says. “But the job is a little bit more unpredictable.”

This unpredictability has not prevented Fate from pursuing a leadership position at Marquette. While co-chairing networking and marketing within RHA, which serves as a publicity committee, he’s able to meet with students as equally committed to leadership as he is.

“For RHA, I mostly work with student leaders who have chosen to be in RHA,” Fate says. “They all have different leadership styles, but in terms of their commitment, I think they’re probably more committed to what they do because it’s somewhat of a volunteer position.”

A part of Fate’s commitment to RHA includes co-chairing the Lil’ Sibs Weekend planning committee, which involves coordinating the events that take place in April, when siblings visit their Marquette brothers and sisters.