As a first year student, I was not qualified to do anything.
I never had a real job. My “work” until my first year in college consisted of translating legal documents from English to Korean for my father and I never got paid for it. The people who worked in our household were salaried employees so what they did was never in my purview.
When I was applying for college in the early 1990s, my mandate was as follows: Unless you get into an Ivy League institution, we are going to ship you off to Canada (Alberta, to be exact, which is where my uncle lived). So while my åfather had great expectations that I will end up in MIT, I spent the most energy applying to the University of Pennsylvania where my good friends had chosen to matriculate. And I got in.
I knew the financial sacrifices my parents had to make to afford my tuition. I also decided (without the consent of my parents) that I should try to earn my own spending money. When I broached this topic with my dad, he said anything but food service. Now, food service was the most lucrative non-work study job that was available. That being said, my parents had spent at least a decade running a restaurant and probably realized the personal hardship that came with the service industry.
For that reason, I applied to be an intramural basketball referee with the department of recreation as my first job. I was not so good at my job (not my fault, to be fair). I learned basketball in the international rules and didn’t realize that NCAA rules were different, especially when calling traveling violations. Also, as an introvert, blowing the whistle to call attention to stop the game was an unexpected challenge. Players yelled at me, complained to the supervisor, and even “accidentally” body slammed me against the gym wall.
I survived the first few weeks with the support of my co-referees and my supervisor. They pointed out what I was doing wrong and, once they realized the source of my errors, they took the time to practice with me, a few minutes before or after games. I improved. I gained confidence. The next time someone slammed me against the back wall, I called a technical foul and smiled. I was grateful for the people who waited for me to learn and provided me with the tools to do better.
Once basketball season was over, I was asked if I wanted to stay for the rest of the intramural season and I said yes. That being said, I was awful at refereeing all other sports, mainly because I had no concept of the game. Baseball and football were the worst. Growing up in Ghana where soccer (football) was king, I had no access to American sports.
My supervisor couldn’t, in good faith, keep me as a referee. Nevertheless, she did keep me, doing administrative tasks like checking in the refs, making sure that the equipment was ready, collecting and recording score cards, and cleaning up after the games were over. I was reliable, punctual, and made an effort to learn. This experience provided me with basic skills for other jobs that required some administrative experience. Co-workers became friends and mentors and they helped me fit in and transition to Penn. It was an unexpected gift that far exceeded in value the $5.35 an hour I was making.
When asked by first year students about the best strategy to transition to college from high school, I often recommend that they get a job, even if it is for a few hours a week. Yes, money is nice. However, the greater value, at least to me, is the experiential learning that comes with working together in the company of others. You get to meet people from all walks of life and learn about who they are and what led them to take the seat next to you. Getting a job is entering a community, each with its own culture and sets of rules. You may not like everyone and some folks will be more difficult to work with than others and that’s part of the learning, too.
And, if you are lucky, you will meet someone who will teach you the electric slide at 1am at the front desk of the Quad so that you don’t fall asleep after a long day.
What will Dr. Gwak say? 