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The community in dining is extremely supportive, and I always know that when I clock-in, I will leave having shared many laughs and stories. This sense of camaraderie is encouraging, and makes me feel appreciated and valued for my work. Most of all, campus life is made significantly better through the connections and relationships I’ve made with both the full-time staff members and my fellow student workers.
- JE '24

I’ve found that working in the dining hall provides a great sense of balance to my life. I go from classes, studying, and exhausting my brain to working in the dining hall, getting some exercise, and relaxing. My job in the kitchen is relaxing at this point--I think that I could cut onions and bell peppers in my sleep! I love to see food that I helped to create being enjoyed. I feel proud to work in Erdman, helping the cooks to prepare and fix delicious food. It’s so fun to eat food that you’ve prepared, or watch your friends enjoy your food.
-LG-W '23

While I did not expect to find such a strong community of people bonding over the delicious garlic knots or special veggie pizza of the day, I could not be more glad I did. The staff, my coworkers, and the students I talk to each day working in New Dorm, simply put, are wonderful. And it is to Dining Services that I owe my gratefulness. Dining Services has led me to people who share similar values as me. We work hard and bond over shared meals each work shift. We chat while switching out dishes and catch up on each other’s lives while writing counts. It is because of the people I met while working for Dining Services that I know what professors are the best, classes are most interesting, and the fun clubs I am a part of. I am lucky to be a part of BMC athletic teams and have close-knit classmates, but it is Dining Services to which I found the greatest community of friendship, laughter, and love.
- CF '25

Looking back on that time, I realized that the only place where I, and many others, had reoccurring and stable companionship was at our jobs - specifically in food services, since it was the only consistently open on campus employment.
- EC '24

  Working in the dining hall alone, I have not only met best-friends, but I’ve found family. Through shared interests in wanting to do good by others, give our best performances, whatever that may be for that day, and constantly encourage each other to care for ourselves and do our own best, us workers, no matter the shift, have created an atmosphere, a community, that is impossible to miss as someone who walks through these halls. 
- AD '24

As a staunch foodie, I really enjoyed listening to people’s feedbacks. My friend Emma is so excited about spaghetti and meatball for lunch that she asked for a plate full, another day the line gets super long for the “tomato soup and grilled cheese” combo that’s divinely good. Though born and raised in China, the happiness we obtained through food is shared among us.
- YJ '23

Above all, BMCDS allowed me the space to create a family, both in the students that I worked with and the full-time staff I worked alongside... Together, we have celebrated one another’s successes and comforted one another during times of loss. While I do not know what the future holds, I know that I will always carry BMCDS with me.
- CP '22

Dining services were the only source of in person activity as we started our college career during the pandemic last year; we found our ��Ӱֱ�� community within the students and full-time staff during a time where community was so limited. Dining work is not easy work, but having such a close-knit community is what has encouraged us to continue working here.  
- AF & YL '24

During each shift, I am greeted by fellow workers and friends with a “Hey, Sruthi!” and am appreciated by the cook or the supervisor for my work. Indeed, there is a true team spirit and a family feeling. - SB '15 

In conjunction with my coworkers’ movements, our work became a team activity, blending the rapid rhythm of motion with that of cooperation; the setting of tables and the clearing of dishes were simultaneously interwoven to create a harmonic pattern of communication among members. -Kai Wang '15

Working here ... has provided me with great memories and has solidified my respect for everyone who has ever worked in a similar establishment. I look forward to the day I can also tell someone “I had a gig like this in college." - I W-M '13

Sometimes I think working in dining services should be mandatory for all students. I think everyone should get the opportunity to see the process behind each meal they eat. I don’t consider myself to be a spoiled person, but working in the dining hall is a humbling and gratifying experience that I would recommend to any student. - MH '15