Many Elder students choose to work part-time outside of school and in the summer. Curious about some of the common ones, I decided to ask around to see where the Panthers are working these days.

First, I know a decent amount of seniors work at Diane’s Restaurant over on Crookshank Rd. I caught up with some of the guys involved there, Carlos Rios and Austin Wagner, to see how they like it.

Diane’s is a family owned restaurant with mostly a retired crowd of customers. It’s definitely similar to something like Price Hill Chili or J&J’s, but it’s much smaller than PHC. They serve all kinds of food, but I hear the breakfast is what you want to get.

Austin is currently a dishwasher and one of the more experienced cooks. “I’ve been there for close to three years and worth every other day,” Austin said. “It’s easy work; they’re pretty lenient. Everyone is nice enough that we can pretty much get along okay.”

Exciting stuff from Austin; you can really hear the passion there. Carlos told me he’s also a dishwasher and cook. “I’ve been working there since April. I enjoy it most of the time but cooking breakfast Sunday morning sucks. The people there are cool because it’s like six of my friends. Except the waitresses though, they’re pretty annoying.”

Both Carlos and Austin said they would recommend working at Diane’s. Shifts are typically four hours; they close at eight on the weekends, so Austin told me he’s usually out by 8:45.

Not all guys work at restaurants, however. Senior David Daeschner works at Kemba Credit Union in Queensgate.

“My official title is office clerk. Basically I file stuff and check to make sure that those files are correctly scanned into our system. I love the job and it pays really well especially for the amount of Netflix that’s watched in the file room.”

David told me he’s been working there since July and works about four days a week after school. “The people are really fun although some of them make me question my faith in humanity but it’s fine. 11/10 would recommend.” Sadly David doesn’t think other guys can get his job because he had to know some important people to get it.

Also, being a Home City Ice employee myself, I couldn’t leave them out. I talked to Nate Schatzman, one of my co-workers, about what he does for HCI.

Nate told me he’s been working for about six months now. “I am a puller for HCI. Typically I visit local Kroger stores and fill their freezers with ice. I work Saturdays and Sundays from morning to late afternoon.”

He said he loves the job, he would definitely recommend it, and the hours are very flexible. “I would recommend it to anyone who wants a cool job in the summer that you won’t be sweating your tail off doing.”

Nate also said working for Elder grad Alex Sedler made his job easier to start and better overall. “Having that connection with the guys you work with makes everything more enjoyable; he understands when I can’t work because of Elder conflicts.” HCI is always looking for Elder guys to help them out at the Wilder location. There’s a simple application online for anyone interested.

These are just a few of the many solid part-time jobs I’ve heard about around Elder. Many more good options exist, but my advice is to talk to guys that already have the job and know what you’re getting into before you apply.