School may be out for the summer (for those who do not have summer classes), but that doesn’t mean many college students aren’t busy with summer jobs. While a down economy has affected youth employment, 50.7 percent of the 16 to 24-year-old civilian noninstitutional population was employed in July 2013, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Oakland University student Tyler Miller works at N1 Discovery in Troy, Mich., an E-Discovery, Digital Forensics and IT Security consulting firm. Miller assists with forensic analysis, collection and imaging.

“I get to go to a lot of interesting places for my job (a lot of which I’m not allowed to talk about), and I find digital forensics really interesting,” he said. “Getting to comb through phones, computers, tablets, etc. and find evidence of a crime is exciting for me, and it requires me to think differently about things.”

Miller said he’s working 35-40 hours a week this summer and works approximately 25-35 hours during the school year.

“I haven’t quite figured that one out yet,” he said on how he balances work with the rest of his schedule. “It’s a learning curve. Sometimes it’s really difficult because we get a lot of work at once, and regardless of what else I’m doing, I have to get my work done.

“Thankfully, my co-workers and employers have been really understanding and flexible. They make it a lot easier.”

An on-campus summer job is also a choice for students that can cut down on commuting to and from school, home and work.

Golden Grizzly senior Nicholas Frawley, 23, is the building manager of the Oakland Center.

“I make sure all the events are going on appropriately in the OC,” he said. “If I have rooms that are supposed to be locked, I need to get those students out of there so the custodial staff can set them up for the next day.”

Frawley also closes the OC, assists in maintenance and fields calls on questions regarding the building. He works around 18 hours a week during the school year, but during the summer his hours vary anywhere from six to 25 a week.

“I think something that’s very fun, actually, is that there’s a lot of events that go on in the OC, more so than most students realize,” he said. “One of my personal favorites was a few months ago, we had the (Michigan) Pinball Expo.

“We had more than like 50 different pinball machines upstairs in the banquet rooms, and that was a really interesting site to see.” 

OU senior Nicole Andress works at the university’s Campus Recreation Center, where she says they are very accommodating to fitting into student employees’ schedules.

“The schedule here is really good with matching up with your classes and everything, so I never have a problem,” she said. “I usually do closing shifts, so I’ll have time afterwards to do my homework.”

Andress said one of the perks of the job is the employee nights they have every couple months, where coworkers will hold events such as movie nights and bonfires.

“It’s good for making money, but I also really like the people who work here,” she said. “It’s not that hard, and I like the atmosphere a lot.”

On-campus jobs are temporary ones, but Andress, majoring in English and cinema studies, has an idea of what position she ultimately wants to land.

“I want to be a book editor,” she said. “It’s always something that I’ve been good at. Doing peer reviews for essays and stuff like that, I’ve always enjoyed it.”