Many students find jobs to keep them occupied in the summer, but this year a group of Yutan students decided to take on an out-of-the-ordinary job, working at the NCAA Men’s College World Series. Over the span of the tournament, 12 Yutan students worked at the Fan Fest portion of the CWS.
The majority of students, such as junior AJ Arensberg, were randomly recruited by Yutan graduate Jude Elgert, who had already been hired and was trying to find others to work as well.
“Jude Elgert put me in a group chat with a bunch of the other boys from Yutan and asked if we would like to work,” Arensberg said.
The students working Fan Fest, which was sponsored by Capital One, were mostly in charge of running the different games that were provided.
“It was mainly pretty much just running games, almost like a carnival…There was a football game, there was a lacrosse game, there was baseball games,” junior Tannen Honke said. “Basically we just played sports with little kids, so it was pretty fun.”
Both Arensberg and Honke worked 48 hours in total while another student, senior Creek Kennedy, worked 80 hours. While working those hours, all three students had the opportunity to meet many different new people, both workers and customers, that they probably wouldn’t have met otherwise.
“I met some people from bigger schools, so it was good to talk to them and see what their life was about,” Kennedy said. “It was a lot of fun working with people I don’t know because I could meet them and make friends, and working with friends, it was still a lot of fun, but you knew everyone, so it didn’t really matter.”
Arensberg was also able to connect with people from other, larger schools while still having fun with his friends that worked with him.
“It was fun working with new people, but it’s also comforting working with people you know, and it makes the experience way more fun when you can have fun with your friends,” Arensberg said.
Through the experience of meeting and working with new people, the students were able to get a new perspective on things.
“It was neat interacting with a lot of teenagers from bigger schools. I guess we don’t really do that a whole lot,” Honke said. “I guess there’s a bit of learning about how all of their schools work and operate…One of the kids that worked there went to Mount Michael. That was definitely, definitely different. He had a different high school experience than we did going to Yutan.”
Besides being able to make new connections, another benefit of the job was that even though they still worked hard, the workers were able to have more fun compared to usual jobs. Arensberg also had fun while working, including a time when he was working the lacrosse game.
“I told a kid I was a pro-lacrosse player, and he was so delighted to meet someone that was going D1 for college lacrosse, and my name was John Dickerson,” Arensberg said. “And he came back the next day, and I signed a lacrosse ball for him.”
Honke also had a fun story while working. He, along with junior Owen Egr, joked around about throwing wiffle balls as hard as they could at junior Max Egr while he was pitching during the Home Run Derby game.
“So, there was this other dude that was working there, not Max, but he was also pitching. And me and Owen told one of the people playing the game that if he hit the pitcher in the face with a wiffle ball that we’d give him a pair of sunglasses,” Honke said. “And sure enough, one of the old dudes hit a nuke directly at this poor, poor dude’s face. But we got him his sunglasses, though, and the pitcher was not very happy with us.”
From meeting new people to making memories, everyone seemed to enjoy their time working at Fan Fest.
“I had a really good time working at Fan Fest, and if I ever got the chance to work it again, I definitely would,” Arensberg said.
