We asked a few students to share their unique part-time work experiences in Boston that have helped them grow personally and professionally. These experiences may not have been ones that students anticipated, but within each role is a unique opportunity to gain competencies that will serve them well in future roles. As they say, every experience is an opportunity to learn and grow. Read on to hear what each student has learned.
1. I work 20 hours/week as a Learning Design Assistant at BC’s Center for Digital Innovation in Learning (referred to lovingly by staff as CDIL (pronounced: “See-Dill”)), and I absolutely love it. I found out about CDIL and this particular Graduate Assistantship opportunity on the BC Graduate Assistantships & Employment Opportunities page (which, by the way, is an amazing resource for all your job-finding needs). In my role, I get to serve professors around campus by helping them build the Canvas sites for their online classes. I had been a high school theology teacher before enrolling at the CSTM, so I was thrilled to find something that would let me use my teaching muscles again in some small way. I get to draw on both my past experience as an educator and my current experiences as a student and Canvas user to help design and implement the best interfaces possible for student engagement and learning. It’s definitely a cool way to feel like I’m plugged into the BC community beyond the walls of Simboli Hall. I’m confident that wherever my professional life takes me after my time at the CSTM, I’ll continue to use the skills of pedagogy and digital design I’m honing now. — Michael Infantine, M.T.S. ’21
2. For the past year, I have been teaching piano – both in-person and virtually – to children and adults at a music studio in Downtown Boston. While the studio is not a faith-based organization, I have found time and again that teaching draws on ministerial skills I’m learning in the classroom and in my supervised ministry placement (and often the lessons via Zoom require those skills the most!). Having to turn off my “theology brain” while at the studio has been both a gift and challenge (remember: having non-academic interests while in grad school is a wonderful thing!), as it has given me a chance to rekindle my passion for music while practicing ministry without using theological or religious jargon. No matter the location, working with people in any capacity calls for kindness, compassion, and clear communication. That maxim still applies in a secular organization, whether I’m teaching a four-year-old “Hot Cross Buns” in-person or patiently listening over Zoom while a 33-year-old student vents about their work-from-home schedule. Everyone deserves to be heard and to be seen; I have been unaccountably fortunate to be able to minister to and with others through a shared love of music. — Elizabeth Turnwald, M.Div. ’22
3. I currently work as the Learning Technologies Assistant for the Center for Digital Innovation in Learning at Boston College, helping with the back end of making sure Canvas is up and running for students and professors to use. Another CSTM student who graduated last year had the position previously, and I found out about it because she let the CSTM know that she would be leaving the job behind. If you had asked me when I was applying to graduate school what sort of job experience I expected during my time in Boston, this would never have crossed my mind. I was hoping to have a position that was more explicitly connected to ministry, but when the pandemic struck and there were limited opportunities available, I decided to give this a try. While it is not what I expected to be doing, there are some transferrable skills. Part of my job is to respond to questions that are sent to the canvas@bc.edu email address, which often requires intuition into people’s needs. I have learned how to read between the lines of what they say and ask for, and to sometimes identify that the problem is stemming from something different than they think. Once I figure out the exact problem and solution, I have to figure out how to communicate that in a clear and respectful way. Sometimes, this turns into Zoom sessions with professors, which often require patience while translating technological processes into language they will understand. I imagine this process is not that different from what I will encounter in ministry, as I listen to people’s spiritual concerns and work with them to identify where they may be stemming from. While ministry is inherently less black and white, and I may no longer be able to find the “right” answer to instantly fix the problem, I think the practice of listening to people’s needs and learning to meet them where they are in their understanding will prove helpful for the future. — Kelly Sankowski, M.A. ’21
4. Over the past two years, while I’ve been completing my studies at CSTM, I have also worked as a live-in nanny for a local family. I work 20 hours per week for the family, and in exchange am able to live in a third-floor apartment in the home completely rent-free. This experience has invited me to grow in patience, creativity, and generosity — all of which are skills I hope to draw on once my time here in Boston comes to a close. I have had the opportunity to pay close attention to the needs, desires, and hopes of the young people I live with, and I have felt really affirmed by their constant love and enthusiasm for play time. The nice thing about Boston is that there are a lot of families looking for nannies and caretakers, and I have found that BC CSTM students have a really good reputation for being wonderful fits for these types of roles. I was lucky to find out about this position from a student who was a current BC CSTM student during my Accepted Student Day visit, and there are often nannying and caretaking opportunities posted in our BC CSTM Facebook group! — Madeline Infantine, M.T.S. ’21