HANNAH COX STAFF WRITER
With brooms and mops in hand, Derek Snakenberg and Tanner Shonka are ready for work. They are responsible for keeping the residence halls clean.
Snakenberg and Shonka are just two of the many students employed by maintenance. Snakenberg cleans Founder’s Hall and Shonka works in Centennial Complex.
Both said they are motivated by money but also like the laid-back work environment.
Snakenberg said he usually wakes up about five minutes before work, throws on a pair of shoes, walks downstairs, grabs a mop and gets to work.
“Every morning I wake up and my roommate and I team up; we take down the bathrooms and we take down the floors. He cleans the showers, and I clean the toilets,” Snakenberg said.
Shonka said he likes working for maintenance because of the flexible hours.
He likes being able to choose his hours and that he rarely has to work on the weekends.
He also said it’s a convenient job because he does not have to leave campus to go to work every morning.
Snakenberg said he enjoys “being able to see all the kids in the morning before they go to school.” He likes seeing “their bright smiling faces as they’re waking up and brushing their teeth.”
Students employed by maintenance to work in the residence halls do a variety of tasks including mopping the halls and bathrooms and vacuuming the lounges.
In the larger residence halls, such as Centennial Complex, the hallways are divided up and each student worker is assigned an area to clean.
Snakenberg said he has learned that there is a technique to mopping.
“I’m a custodial ‘artisan.’ People call it janitor; I call it custodial arts,” he said.
Snakenberg and Shonka agreed that one of the downfalls of the job is cleaning up messes such as vomit.
“It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it,” Snakenberg said.
Both Shonka and Snakenberg said there was one thing they wished they could improve about their jobs. They wish they had “sweet jumpsuits” to wear while they work.
“I would rock that [jumpsuit],” Shonka said.