assistant director

service technician

student assistant

risk manager

program manager

Central Michigan University

Overall working for University Recreation on Central Michigan University's Campus has been an incredibly rewarding experience. My daily tasks as a graduate assistant vary from day to day. I work closely with the Assistant Director of Fitness and Wellness and am currently in charge of staffing over 30 Group Fitness leaders as well as co-staff another 25 Fitness Specialists. Some days it is mainly administrative while I schedule employees as well as review their clock-in times and task codes. I am in charge of evaluating each student in the format they teach once a semester and discussing with them their class and areas of growth as well as areas of strength. I also am in I also meet with each student individually once a semester to discuss goals for the year. I have worked with marketing and advertisement to promote health and wellness programs as well as our group fitness schedule. I work in an environment where finding balance in our daily lives and work is extremely important. The biggest lesson I have learned at this point in my working career is to work in my 'sweet spot'. Meaning, there are reasons why we are all different and good at specific things and not so good at others. This concept creates a deep sense of unity and collaboration within our department and other areas around campus. The most enjoyable part of my job is working directly with the students and being and to be a positive influence in each of their lives. The most difficult part of this job is trying to prioritize big projects while still getting the day to day tasks completed. A lot of time projects seem to get put on the back burner because my time is directed elsewhere. Also, projects take a lot longer to get completed due to the many obstacles I need to go through the get anything approved.

Higher Ed is like a huge slow moving ship tht is unable to easily pivot and change direction/course before it crashes into the iceberg of the reality of changing times. While having a few hardworking, intelligent individuals, this university's beurocricy is full of incompetent, unprofessional and/or lackadaisical leadership. There is written research on the state of and future of higher ed dating back several decades yet this institution, while giving lipservice to change, is not making changes to meet the changing needs of the target market, technology, and economy. My experience as a working professional returning to college with a paid tuition benefit was unbelievable. It all looks good on paper, but the experience was underwhelming to say the least. With very few exceptions, people working there are not able to keep their syllabus updated, bookstore hours updated, use current technology in class materials (Flash videos are way outdated), provide digitally accessible PDFs in course material, respond to students emails for help with inaccessible media, provide quality feedback during a course, provide grades in a timely manner, etc. Both working there and attending as a student was incredibly disappointing.

A Typical day at work:

I resume, look into my schedule of assignments for the day which majorly are support issues from user, report modification requests as well as requests for application tweaking to meet some desired need. My other team members are basically hardware supports personnel so I majorly work with my boss.

What I learned:

Since I started working with CMU I have learned that quick and better results are achieved in a more timely and efficient manner when there is team work.

Management:

The management style at CMU is an open one with a firm belief in the capability of it employee. There are well laid out procedures to resolve challenges as well as seek help.

Co-Worker:

They are simply great and a wonder to work with. Even though they dwell much on hardware, they also help with software issues and share ideas too.

The hardest part of the Job:

keeping deadlines and working according to specification.

The most enjoyable part:

Working together and translating user requirements to tangible results enabling the continuity of CMU's daily processes. Commendations...

A typical practice day I worked in the office from 8am until 2 pm where I performed multiple duties including fundraising, team travel, scouting reports, video analysis, practice plans, academic evaluations, teaching class, equipment ordering and distributing, recruiting for the team and camp, constant contact with high school and summer coaches.  We would then have meetings with players and have 3 hours of practice. The we would then go with the players to weightlifting followed by watching video with them.  I would spend the entire spring traveling to play games and/or recruiting all around the country.  The entire summer would be spent traveling to watch kids play whereas I would be on the road at least 5 days a week for 3 months.  I would typically get about 5 off days during a Six month span from January to August.  The hardest part of the job is being away from my family so much while the most enjoyable part is the ability to teach baseball to the young men.

A typical day at work usually consisted of a variety of small projects continuously and interchangeably being worked on.  Although there was enjoyable music to listen to in the store, the louder and more frequent sounds were from the other managers gossiping about each other or other employees.  The management enjoyed the gossip and encouraged it with in the workplace environment.  Also, if you made a mistake management would jump on the chance to tell you in a harsh and sometimes public manner.  Finally the scheduling was absolutely terrible and interfered with my classes and family commitments during every holiday break. The hardest part of the job was dealing with the work environment everyday.  The most enjoyable part of the job was dealing directly with the customers and making the CMU students and faculty's lives a little bit easier.

As a Graduate Assistant, my schedule varies day to day depending on the courses I was assigned to teach each given semester. With having the opportunity to teach over 400 students over the 2 years at Central Michigan University, it has taught me a lot of patience, along with  provided me opportunities to grow as a person. It helped me with public speaking, organization skills and the ability to be flexible and approachable for my students. I thoroughly enjoyed watching my students succeed after seeing them prepare for exams. The hardest part of being a graduate assistant, on contrary was watching students either not care about the subject or not do as well as they hoped in the class or on exams. All in all, I have gained so many wonderful experiences from this opportunity, as it has positively influenced me to become better at time management, organization, teaching and many more.

The athletics department is run by administrators that have little to no history of past success throughout their careers, have been there forever, have opinions on things they have no idea about, and they have no idea how to run a department.  Their budget management is horrible and there is zero transparency.  They are dishonest with employees.  Their number one concern is to make sure their own reputation is covered and they have no concern about the athletes' well being or the coaches.  It takes months to get anything done, when it should only take a day or two.  The department has little to no school spirit.  When important positions open up, due to somebody leaving, it takes way too long to get it filled, as they put it off forever.

Typical day consists of a early morning session monitoring camp employees and campers in attendance. Logging camper hours. Organizing and preparing for lunch. Then a mid day session again logging workers hours and monitoring camper activities. Running a coaches corner where there is personal interaction between myself and the high-school coaches in attendance. An afternoon session where I monitor the camp employees and campers and log employee hours. Then a coaches social that night where I entertain coaches and ensure that they have a good time while bringing there athletes to our camps.
I learned how to manage people and time.
My co-workers are good hard working people.
The hardest part of the job is staying organized and working long hrs.
The most enjoyable part of the job is providing a great product.

A Supplemental Instructor is a student who attends lectures and takes notes as a model student. In my case, I am the supplemental instructor for the anatomy course at Central Michigan University. I create worksheets from the notes presented in class or from the text so the students have an opportunity to review this material and understand it better. I hold two sessions a week where the students come and attend and review the material in a fun, less intimidating environment than lecture. This gives many students an opportunity to ask questions and not feels discouraged or intimidated by the amount of students there are in lecture. I make powerpoint, Kahoots, worksheets, and drawings in order for the students to understand the material better.

A typical day of cleaning a unit was making sure kitchen appliances looked new after cleaning, making sure all window were clean and sills were free of any and all debris, cleaning all light fixtures, banisters, carpets, and bathroom fixtures. All floors had to be stripped, waxed and buffed at the end of the cleaning process. Each unit took approximately 16 hours with the drying of the floors included. You worked alone on this job which was nice, but the hardest part of the job was cleaning up after someone totally destroyed the place and left garbage all over to be picked up. The most enjoyable part of the job was that you cleaned when your schedule permitted availability. Management was very good and supplied with all materials and body gear needed to complete job.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Assistant director 3 salaries reported	$47,667 per year
Service technician 21 salaries reported	$18.40 per hour
Student assistant 4 salaries reported	$13.75 per hour
Risk manager 21 salaries reported	$72,500 per year
Program manager 21 salaries reported	$68,000 per year

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