Work Study

When applying for financial aide, it determines whether or not you deserve assistance in the form of work study. As it turns out I qualified and my track coach, Coach Newsom, told me he would help me apply for a good job on campus. His idea of the perfect job was at the pool in the W since I am a certified lifeguard. I would agree with him that this job isn't difficult to any extent. All I do is sit and watch the pool, making sure no one drowns. Wrong! There is a lot more involved with this job than I knew at the beginning. The hours I work aren't very flexible. I work every Tuesday night from 6:15 to 8:15 which isn't bad except for the fact that I have track practice until 6:00 every day and sometimes it goes later so I have to go straight from practice to work. Also, we have to rotate weekend shifts. I understand this because it isn't fair to have the same people working the weekends every time but some times conflicts come up and you can't work. However, this is a big problem becaue it is really hard to get other employees to switch you times or have them work for you. No one is willing to help anyone else out even if you did them the favor previously. Lastly, being a lifeguard at the W demands putting aside time every month for inservices. Granted the inservices aren't too terribly long and they are only once a month but it has become repetitive and I don't believe any other jobs on campus require this. I know that this is the worst job there is but sometimes I wonder if it is all worth it. I work two times a week at the most and get payed minimum wage. At times I think about what it would be like if I hadn't decided to take a work study job. There are so many questions I ask myself like; How much more time would I have, is it helping pay off my tuition that much, is it even worth it, and so much. I guess for now I'll just stick it out and next year hopefully I feel like I am able to handle a more advanced job that maybe isn't on campus.