Thoughts on Employment from Two PHAME Campus Assistants

Lea Mulligan & Kyle Brushwein.

With our One Community Breakfast coming up in May, we reached out to two of our Campus Assistants—Lea Mulligan and Kyle Brushwein—to hear their thoughts on employment. Lea and Kyle are also PHAME students, so they bring an experienced perspective to their work on campus, which focuses on helping to keep things running smoothly in our program space.

Kyle puts the benefits of the job simply: “If you work hard, you get paid, you gain life experience.” Working at PHAME is the first job Kyle has held since finishing high school, and he says the job has made him more confident and proud, and he’s learned he can take on new responsibilities. Thinking about what the most challenging part of the job is for him, he notes, “My speech.  Trying to keep the speed of my speaking slow enough for people to understand what I am saying.” Communication is a key aspect of his job, so he has the opportunity to hone his skills every shift.

Lea says, “A job is very important to me because I love to work and learn new things.” Before working at PHAME, Lea worked for Walmart, and the big difference now is that she has more mentorship, and she expects a higher level of respect at work. Being supported on the job is important to Lea, and she says, “The most important thing about [a] job is working in a place where people truly care about you and they make you feel loved or that you are needed there…The people I work with definitely make me fell supported, they do an excellent job to make sure we are feeling confident and comfortable…”

One of the primary elements of the CA job is making students feel safe and welcome, and both Lea and Kyle excel at that. Lea told us, “A story I have is about how I make students happy. A student was having a very hard day [and] I asked if I could give her a big hug. She said yes and after the hug she was very happy again. I like to make sure everyone is feeling safe and sound at PHAME.”

Thank you, Lea and Kyle! We’re so glad to have you on our team.