Summer Workjob Fosters New Connections

Summer may be a break from the schoolyear schedule at Northfield Mount Hermon, but it's a busy time around campus. Annual events like reunion weekend, Perennial College, NMH Summer, and other camps and conferences throughout the summer months keep staff members on their toes as they prepare for the upcoming school year.

Luckily, workjob students are there to lend a hand. From the first days of summer break to the week before orientation begins, students are hard at work across campus, picking up new skills, making new friends, and forging new connections with NMH along the way.

Summer workjob differs in several ways from its school-year counterpart, said Kensey Batchelder P’19, ’26, director of work and service learning: The days are longer, the work assignments go further in depth, and the nature of the jobs conforms to the specific needs of the summer season.

"In many ways, it more closely simulates actual working conditions our students might encounter out in their communities," Batchelder said.

Comprised primarily of day students — whose abilities to fulfill their work requirements are limited during the school year — summer workjob crews perform a host of duties: assisting in the dining hall, helping to clean dormitories, and giving tours for the admission office, among others. In some cases, students serve in multiple roles throughout the summer.

Down on the NMH farm, students help with everything from weeding, planting, and harvesting fruits and vegetables to tending to the goats and chickens during their weeklong assignments. That diversity presents a variety of learning opportunities that aren't always available during the school year, said Adam Finke, the assistant farm manager.

"I've found that it's much easier to get more done [in the summer] because you have a cohesive chunk of five hours instead of spreading it out through the week," Finke said. "There's more time to think about and understand what we're doing and to connect as a group."

For transfer students, summer workjob can be a soft introduction to the campus and an opportunity to make friends, said Will Polatin '29. "It's definitely helped me to wrap my head around this place. I'm coming from a far smaller school than this, so I'm glad I'm getting some taste for NMH before getting launched into the school year."

In Alumni Hall, workjob students play an integral part in managing the summer workload, said Anna Piergentili, director of dining services. "They'll do anything from working in our dish room, sweeping, mopping, wiping tables. Some of them work in the kitchen cutting and washing vegetables or cleaning counters. We put our schedule together with them in mind, so we really depend on them to show up and take ownership of the job."

That sense of shared responsibility is encouraged by the personal connections workjob students form with staff members they otherwise might not interact with on a regular basis, she said. "For every student, there's somebody that's mentoring them. I think the continuity really sets them up for success, and it means a lot to our staff members."

Making connections is also a primary focus at the Bolger Center for Early Childhood Education, where workjob students help staff maintain the facilities and prepare for the fall preschool session, in addition to assisting in the summer classrooms.

"It's hard work, but it's also really rewarding," said Carol Kennedy, the director of the Y Academy at the Bolger Center for Early Childhood Education. "It's powerful for the young kids to see [workjob students] as role models, and it's powerful for workjob students to see that the choices you make as a young adult are going to affect the next generation."

Charlotte Sell '28, who worked at the Bolger Center and with the custodial team this summer (in addition to other summer workjob assignments in previous years), said those experiences have added nuance to her perception of the NMH community.

"Through workjob, you get to meet the people who are helping the campus operate in different ways," Sell said. "It gives you an appreciation for how much it takes to maintain this campus, while also providing an opportunity to lend a hand."

— Max Hunt

Photos by Max Hunt.