This week wrapped up Student Employment Appreciation Week, a week of gratitude for all of Macalester’s student workers, who make up about 80% of the student body. The Mac Weekly sat down with one student employee, Marcus Ulmer ’17, a mathematics and computer science double major, to talk about their work with Media Services.

TMW: What’s your official job title and responsibilities?

I’m a Media Services Student Aide. I film presentations, deliver equipment, do setup and takedown for various campus events and inspect classrooms to make sure all the tech is working.

What is your favorite part about your job?

My favorite part of the job is the free food — because honestly, you can’t beat free food­ — but there are lots of great things about working for Media Services. I get the opportunity to attend campus events and showings that I wouldn’t have otherwise. I get to be helpful when people need tech support! Since I’m familiar with the systems in the classrooms, I know what rooms have the best audio systems, which have HDMI connections, and what to do when my professors have trouble with the projector.

Do you want to continue doing work of this sort post-Mac?

I doubt I’ll continue to do this work post-Mac and unfortunately, I’m leaving Media Services next year, fallen prey to the siren call of precepting, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if I end up running tech support as a part-time job in the future.

What is your Media Services-related message to the Macalester community?

Message to the rest of the Mac community: if tech isn’t working in the classrooms, please let us know! You do not have to live with noisy projectors, screens that don’t retract correctly or VGA connections without sound. Shoot us a ticket at [email protected] and we’ll get on it.