By J.T. Buchheit
News Editor
jbuchhei@jccc.edu
The student welcome desk is one of the first places people see when entering the Student Center. The workers there aim to assist students in a variety of ways.
“Here at the student welcome desk, we make IDs for students, we print off schedules and just overall assist people with what they need,” said student and welcome desk employee Kevin Robertson. “We also sell different items. We have bus tickets, we sell Royals tickets during the regular season, we sell tickets for CoCo Keys and different stuff like that. The students don’t have to pay taxes on them, so that’s why a lot of them come here to buy their tickets.”
The workers don’t only help students on campus. One of their main responsibilities is to handle the many phone calls they receive per day.
JCAV Video — Learn more about the welcome desk and student activities ambassadors
“We’re also the operators for the school,” Robertson said. “We answer the phones and transfer people to whomever they need to speak to. … Students also have questions about their accounts, or someone’s just trying to get into contact with their professor. A lot of people have questions about when school starts, when the deadlines are or how to get to places like GEB. And when they call with the questions, we usually forward them to the front desk.”
According to Robertson, admissions are the most common redirect, both on the phone and in person, having to direct a person to admissions “every minute or two minutes.” All sorts of questions are asked, however, including a person once asking if they needed to be a student at the school in order to obtain an ID.
One of the workers, Administrative Assistant of Student Activities John Hanysz, has experience in the hiring of students for the welcome desk and stressed the importance of hiring those who want to work there.
“You try to find students that are passionate about trying to make a difference,” said Hanysz. “I don’t think it’s all about whether or not you’re a 4.0 student. We love to get those students who are high achievers, but I think it revolves around whether or not you have that passion.”
The people at the welcome desk want to engage students and make them feel welcome, so the workers take multiple steps to ensure all visitors are treated well.
“You want to know that these people will help you identify what your needs are,” said Hanysz. “Everyone who comes here is looking for direction, a friendly face, something that allows you to become a part of where you’ll be attending. Some of the ways [we do that] are the welcoming smile, taking a moment to listen to what your needs are rather than to just point people in a direction and say, ‘This is where you go.’ We try to answer every single question they have, regardless of whether or not we’re the department that actually takes care of that need.”