Students prepare to leave campus by working off-campus

By Olivia Pero Assistant Editor

If not for the professors and faculty strolling across campus, it would seem as though Hillsdale College is run by students. Need coffee? Just head over to AJ’s Café, and there’s a former lab partner from chemistry to take your order. Time to pick up a package?

There’s that kid from constitution class ready to help. While most students work up the hill, some students hoping to pursue medicine after graduation have made their way into town to find part-time work and career experience.

Sophomore Isaac Frigerio, who who works at the Hillsdale County Medical Care Facility as a certified nursing assistant, hopes to be physician’s assistant after graduation.

Frigerio said his job involves anything from walking residents to taking vitals to minor wound treatments.

“There’s a clear barrier between CNAs and nurses,” Frigerio said. “CNAs do the grunt work for nurses basically.”

Frigerio said he enjoys his job because he never knows what the residents will say and what stories they will tell.

“It’s fantastic,” Frigerio said. “I never know what’s going to come out of their mouths, but it’ll be funny. I also get to hear the residents’ life stories. We have people who’ve been in WWII, who have been all over the world, who have 40 grandkids and great grandkids, stuff like that.”

Frigerio’s employer requires him to work 16 hours per month, which he completes by working a weekend and one other shift. To be accepted to graduate school, he must complete 1000 hours of paid patient contact time.

Scheduling at the medical care facility is flexible, and Frigerio earns $18 an hour.

“I would go to work even without being paid, just to chat with the people there,” Frigerio said. “Some of them are the sweetest people I’ve ever met.”

Puppies, cats, birds, and baby goats are a part of junior Hannah Allen’s day when she’s working at Fieldstone Veterinary Care.

Since the summer of 2021, Allen has worked at Fieldstone.

“I’m mostly a receptionist, but I do a few odd jobs here and there,” Allen said. “I’ll clean packs, wrap them, and put them in the autoclave for surgery a lot, or I’ll do surgery charges.”

Allen decided to work off-campus for experience in the veterinary field, which interests her as a potential career.

“An on-campus job doesn’t really offer me anything for a potential veterinary career,” Allen said. “So that was kind of the motivation because you really need to have experience in a vet clinic in order to apply for vet school.”

Working at Fieldstone is a break from school and extracurriculars, providing a change in focus for a few hours, Allen said.

“It’s really nice because when I go to work I’m in a completely separate world from the Hillsdale campus,” Allen said. “I’m not thinking about anything to do with school or my extracurriculars. I’m purely focused on my job because it’s a whole different community.”

Allen works one to two times each week.

“I love my coworkers, and they love me,” Allen said. “It’s a good little relationship.”

Sophomore Ellie Sassak recently started working at Hillsdale Hospital, training to be a phlebotomist in the outpatient lab.

Sassak’s job involves drawing blood and doing blood work as well as working with Covid-19 swabs and urine tests.

“It’s a good introduction into health care,” Sassak said. “I’m thinking about med school, either for psychiatry, pediatrics, or a mix of both. I don’t really know what kind of setting I want to work in, so being in the local hospital is enlightening.”

Working in town allows Sassak to feel more committed to the community, and to work in a structured environment, she said.

“I think it helps you get more active and committed to the community,” Sassak said. “You get to know people that are not in college, and it is more structured, with a sense of responsibility.”