This time of the year, most of you are worrying about finals and finding summer jobs.  However, there is a small group of people on campus who will not be traveling home.

Every summer, there are about 100 students who stay on campus and work for the various departments or have internships. Some of you out there probably think that this is crazy. Why would you want to stay on campus all summer long when you could go home and hang out with friends and family? As someone who has done this three times before, I’ll walk you through a standard summer at Elizabethtown College.

When everyone is finishing their finals and packing to leave, you are left with surprisingly little to do. You pack your stuff, but you don’t get to move into summer housing for two weeks, so you’re stuck in moving limbo.  Senior week still seems pretty normal, even though three-quarters of the school have moved out.  After graduation and May term, however, campus is empty. In my experience, this is the hardest part to get used to.

There is always a steady rotation of groups staying on campus, but they never stay long. Some of these include church groups, sports camps and music ensembles. You get so used to the campus being empty that it is a shock when school starts again.  It is unfathomable that there are lines in the cafeteria and that you have to look for tables and parking spots.

Housing plans vary amongst departments, but the norm is free room and board for the summer. I know some people disagree with me when I say that I like the food better in the summer than the regular semesters, but hear me out. The dining staff has more time to make food for fewer people, so they can experiment. In addition, they use produce from the garden across the street from Ober, so the food is fresher.

You can get a summer job in many of the departments across campus, including admissions, dining services, campus security, facilities, ITS and research in the academic departments. Working full-time allows you to see the campus in a different way and appreciate all the work that goes on behind the scenes during the year that allows the school to function.

Working for mechanical trades has allowed me to participate in many of the campus improvements over the past few years. In 2011, we replaced all the air conditioners in Schlosser. This was a long process that included taking out the old units and pipes, installing new pipes for power, control and electricity and installing the thermostats in each room. In 2012 and 2013, we worked on Gibble Auditorium, running about 8,000 feet of pipes for the various equipment and lights.

Being on campus during the summer is nice because, unlike the regular year, you have no work to do after 3:30 p.m. or on the weekends. You have infinitely more time to relax, work out or do whatever else your heart desires. Because everyone lives in the apartments, you make friends with people that you may not have met otherwise. Some of my best friends and most interesting roommates have been people who stayed here over the last three summers.

I have so many good memories from working here, but a few stand out.  I loved listening to my apartment-mates screaming at the top of their lungs at Starcraft our first year. Another time, I remember awakening and having someone ask me, “Did you see the ninjas on Brinser Field?”  Sophomore year, we had our couch up on our kitchen table to create stadium seating in our living room. We also held a FIFA tournament and the campus Olympics. There was also the time when my friends threw things at me while I was horribly sunburnt in bed, forcing me to react and suffer through the movement or get hit in the head with a basketball.  Last year, we all went on Netflix binges, and I think I watched eight seasons of The Office in about a week.

I understand that living away from home is not for everyone, but I would definitely recommend staying on campus at least once. I value my time here at school exponentially more because of what I’ve experienced during the summers. As I look forward to graduation in three weeks, I think summer in Etown might be at the top of the list of things I will miss most.