Samantha Wolff

Each year of college I've filled out a FAFSA. I know I didn’t qualify for work-study my freshman year, but I didn’t realize it because I didn’t know it was even a thing.

When I received my financial aid package my sophomore year I was like, ‘Wait, I qualify for what?’ I didn't even know what work-study meant. All I saw is that I qualified for a chunk of money. So, I did a little bit of my own research before I accepted it. I realized that with work-study I could get an on-campus job or a job really close to campus.

I applied to be a women's soccer manager—I don't even play soccer. I just love sports and athletics and being athletic—I thought it would be fun. I also applied for the front desk at the Nebraska History Museum. Then, I found and applied to America Reads.

After my America Reads interview, I ended up like getting a call from Hartley Elementary a week or so later being like, ‘Hey, do you want to do this thing?’

I chose to work with America Reads because it was closer to education and thought it could be beneficial to me and my future career. I think working with students, especially younger students, can really build a lot of skills that are necessary for life.

I am a secondary science education major and I have had a lot of experience working with kids through coaching volleyball or vacation Bible school, that kind of stuff. I'm very comfortable working with kids. I thought that would be something that I would like, I know how to do and am comfortable with.

I think even if a college job is not necessarily in your career field, it can still give you a lot of valuable skills and life lessons.

I’ve had past work experiences, like a retail job where they forget you're a student. They treat you like a full-time employee. But I knew that I wanted to put school first. I think an on-campus job really provides that. That is a benefit that work-study allows for: flexibility around academics, and that you can also experience other opportunities. Work-study jobs realize that you're a student first. Right? That was really appealing to me because I am very focused on academics and I didn't want a job to overshadow that.

This is my third year at Hartley. It sounds cheesy, but I've watched some kids grow up. I met them when they were in third grade and now they're going to be middle schoolers—I’ve developed some great relationships with my students.

There is one student in particular that I became close with. He’s a very intelligent student but doesn’t like doing his homework. He hasn’t had great experiences working with other people he doesn’t know super well. So, I took the role of being his homework helper because I was told that I work well with him. I like working with him—he’s a really good student.

Working with students is not something I ever thought I would really enjoy, but I really do. I love the aspect of teaching when I can sit down one-on-one with students or in a small group to explain things and you see that light go off. That's a really great feeling for me. And I think it's a great feeling for students as well.