In college, having a consistent cashflow can be tricky, especially considering what it takes to balance and maintain a job with being a full-time student. The Facilities Department at Grand Valley State University offers a wide array of different types of jobs for student workers, ranging from mail delivery to grounds keeping and maintenance.

Jeff Marcinkowski, maintenance supervisor of facilities, said that students working for facilities in the maintenance department do a wide variety of jobs, including painting, power washing, working directly with maintenance staff on projects, washing motor pool vehicles, cleaning drains and beyond.

“I look for students who are able to ‘think’ through a job,” Marcinkowski said. “We do not provide all of the items or instruction to complete something as we like to have students ask questions, think through a project and come up with a process to accomplish the work. We like students who are committed to a schedule and are able to communicate.”

Ken Stanton, grounds supervisor, said that there are also several jobs within this area for students that help support the overall mission and goals of the grounds department. He said that most of these tasks include things such as installation and maintenance of the annual flowers used in flower beds and planters around campus, watering and maintaining the annual flower planters and new tree shrub plantings, mowing and string trimming, sidewalk edging, or assisting the grounds staff with installation of plants and perennials in the building shrub beds.

“The challenging aspect from working with students is that some of the workers have little to no work experience with doing landscaping and grounds maintenance type of work,” Stanton said. “The rewarding aspect of the job comes from observing the students take on this type of work assignment, and successfully complete some of the tasks and work assignments assigned to them, especially during adverse weather conditions.”

Steven Lesser, service operations supervisor, said that generally, the most popular departments that students work for in facilities are grounds, the customer service help desk, mail and the recycle team.

He said that students with grounds jobs typically enjoy outdoor work, especially in the summer time. The customer service help desk is a favorite because students are at ground zero for the customer service area. In addition, students like the mail department because it is a close knit community, and the recycling team covers the whole campus and are environmentally responsible.

Lesser said that the types of students who typically work for Facilities have financial needs that can be met by working right on campus with schedules that are tailored to their availability, and students that continue to work at Facilities for several years feel like they have become part of their “extended family” and are providing a service to the campus.

Marcinkowski emphasized that the facilities department is always receiving good feedback from the GVSU community.

“The positive comments and compliments from the students, faculty, staff and visitors regarding the overall appearance of the campus grounds is a reflection of the hard work and contributions made by all the work from the GVSU grounds department,” he said.

Stanton said that contacts for repairs can be done in a variety of ways. Students can call the customer service desk at (616) 331-3000 and place a work order on line or to inform the living center, or the apartment resident assistant or housing managers.
[email protected]