Working for a living

Robert Henry Becker Arizona Daily Wildcat Andrea Gemson, a microbiology senior, takes a fluid sample out of a centrifuge at the bottom of the refrigerator. Earlier Gemson had matched the antigens in a different fluid sample to see how they interacted, and now she takes this new sample to prepare a new plate for the next experiment.

But of all the jobs on campus, probably the most difficult to come by and the most time consuming is that of the president of ASUA. Gilbert Davidson now holds that position.

"It's a full-time job," said Davidson, who is the spokesman for the student body.

He sits on every administrative body and meets with administrators every two weeks. He has to make sure that all the money that comes in is spent in a way that will benefit students.

"I try to think of ways that will help students enjoy the university. I attend sports and cultural events and meet student groups," he said.

Davidson is also a full-time student studying business management in his senior year. He gets a $5,000 stipend for his job.

"For all the hours that you put in, it's less than $1 an hour," he said.

Davidson ran for the position last spring and was voted in by the student body in a general election. Before that he had been a volunteer and then a senator for two years.

"Most of all I enjoy the university," Davidson said. "That's part of my job."

For Andrea Gemson, a microbiology senior, research with mice in the lab is part of her job. There are few undergraduate students working in research jobs. Gemson is one of the few. She helps the graduate students with lab support activities involving animal research. Presently, they are working on a cure for C Parvum, a disease that usually affects cattle but can also affect humans if it gets into the water system.

Gemson started working in the lab in 1994 for a minimum wage of $4.25 per hour. She gets a raise every six months, which has brought her pay up to $5.55 per hour.

It's a convenient job for her because working hours are flexible so she can make her own schedule.

Most important to her, though, is the experience she is gaining by working there. It's also a great place to make contact with professors whose classes you'll be taking and the graduate students are great resources for tests, she said.

"Undergraduate research jobs are hard to come by and I feel lucky to have one," she said.

Rebecca Sherman, a communications senior, worked at a job not so hard to come by. Last year she was an usher in Centennial Hall.

She loved it because she had spent nine years in Washington where she went to see a lot of shows.

"When I moved to Arizona I needed a place where I could watch all the shows," she said.

An usher takes tickets and shows people to their seats. You work only when there's a show, and at Centennial Hall there is usually two shows a month running for up to four days each, Sherman said.

"The job pays minimum wage, but it didn't really matter because I wanted to see the shows," she said.

In nearby Gallagher Theatre, Jonathan Chilcote, an agriculture and bio systems engineering junior, operates the projector three nights a week.

Chilcote likes projecting because of the experience he is gaining.

"After college, if I want, I could get a job as a projectionist any time," he said.

Chilcote's job is to set up the projector and watch it through the first show.

If it works the first time it will work for the rest of the shows. He can go down, watch the show and make sure everyone's OK - nobody's dancing on the stage or anything.

"It really does happen sometimes - people dancing on the stage," he said.

The job pays minimum wage but Chilcote says it's fun.

"You can watch all the shows free and even bring a friend when you're not working, Chilcote said. "A lot of the time you can do your homework or socialize, and you get free drinks and popcorn."

And speaking of food, there is no shortage of jobs in the fast food places, many of which have had 'Help Wanted' notices up since the semester began. Antonio Gonzales, a finance senior, works 20 hours a week at Taco Bell Express on the second floor of the Memorial Student Union.

"I like my job," he said, "because the hours are flexible so I can fit it into my class schedule."

Some days he works on the line, preparing the food. When he's not working on the line, he works as cashier or as the student lead. A lead does the accounts, makes sure everything is clean and closes down, Gonzales said.

"Most restaurants give a 50 percent discount on food to their employees. Here free food depends on the manager, but drinks are free for us at any restaurant as long as we have our work IDs or we are wearing uniform. If you do a good job, your pay goes up," he said.

But there's more to life than just food.

In the Science and Engineering Library Cyrus Peralta, a pre-medical technology sophomore, works part time as a shelver.

"We put the returned books on a cart and take them up using the library of congress system. This mainly involves following alphabetical order," Peralta said.

He splits his 10 working hours between the Science and Engineering and Main Libraries as do most shelvers. He works for minimum wage at a job that he said is "pretty busy" but is not a strenuous job and is pretty flexible so he can work around his work schedule.