Summer time for students can mean vacation away from classes and for summer extended classes for the summer. For other students the summer time means working for the dining hall.

Every summer, summer camps come to eastern to use its facilities for their program. Among the facilities used are the dining halls. The student workers at the dining halls serve food for over 500 students a day.

Donta Thompson, a junior sociology major, said the work is very face paced because all of the camp participants come in the dining hall at once. Thompson, who said he often works as a dishwasher in the dining hall, said washing 500 dishes at a time can be very complicated.

Despite the complications, Thompson, who has only been working for the ding hall for two months, said he enjoys working for the dining hall because they treat him like family.

“My coworkers are more like my family,” he said. “We get our work done together and we have fun while doing; we make the best out of the day no matter what is going on.”

Cedric Johnson, a sophomore communication studies major, also works for the dining hall as a student worker. Jackson said the time limit to serve several hundred students can be complicated at times.

“You can get backed up in your work if you’re not moving fast enough,” Johnson said. “You have to be fast but efficient.”

Johnson said he also enjoys working with his co-workers and interacting with the customers.

“I like making the customers laugh and seeing the smile that I put on their face,” Jackson said, “Meeting new people from different backgrounds is always important as well.”

According to the student workers, the dining hall is also professionally developing them for their future in the workforce.

Thompson said so far, the dining hall has taught him how to communicate with customers as well as learn time management. He said he hopes to one day move up in the ranks of the dining hall.

“The dining hall has really taught me better customer service skills and how to operate in a work environment,” Thompson said. “I hope to one day become a manager for the dining hall.”

Marcus Curtis can be reached at mlcurtis@eiu.edu