On April 19, the Bone Student Center held its annual Student Awards and Recognition Ceremony to honor the hard work of its student employees throughout the 2015–2016 school year. The awards recognized included Student Manager of the Year, Outstanding Customer Service, Rising Stars, Longest Tenure, and Student Employee of the Year.

The recipient of this year’s Student Employee Award was junior operations student manager and security manager Cole Hasselbring. Hasselbring majors in criminal justice sciences and minors in political science. Hasselbring has worked for the Bone Student Center since his freshman year and has shown outstanding commitment to his work. He sat down to answer some questions about his experience working as a student and attending Illinois State.

What is your favorite part about working at the Bone Student Center?

My favorite part about working at the Bone Student Center is the friendships that I have gained with the Bone staff. I came from a very small town of 850 people, and I was the only one from my class to come to ISU so I knew almost no one when I first arrived here. I started working at the Bone first semester of my freshman year and met some great people. Throughout my three years of working at the Bone, I have been able to become friends with staff from several different departments and backgrounds that have helped me become a little more cultured. I also like getting to interact with all of the different clients that come through the Bone. Working in the Guest Services Department has let me meet some celebrities such as Iggy Azalea and Hunter Hayes. This job also has given me the opportunity to speak with several different professionals from which I have been able to get some helpful information on how to sell myself better in the job market.

What are your plans after you graduate?

At this point I really don’t have anything set in stone. In the spring of 2017, I will be doing an internship with the Kankakee County Probation Department, which will hopefully lead to a position with them. If that does not work out, I plan on applying to every criminal justice related job in my hometown area of Cissna Park.

What do you do in your spare time?

I currently work three different jobs so I don’t really have that much free time, but when I do, it is usually spent with friends around campus. I also like watching Netflix or sports and currently my roommates have gotten me into Game of Thrones, which has taken up a lot of my free time.

What is your favorite thing about Illinois State?

One of my favorite things about ISU is the students that go here. Students here come from totally different backgrounds, which I enjoy hearing about. I have been able to get along with almost everyone that I met at ISU, which I believe isn’t the case at other universities. I also like how close everything is at ISU. All of my classes are relatively close to each other and close to the Bone, which makes getting to work on time easier.