Students Struggle to Achieve Balance

Students in the current job market are still struggling to manage their studies and hold down a part-time job.

This is more often then not due to busy timetables and the negative stigma attached to working and studying at the same time.

James Fuller, a first year engineering student at Griffith University said, “If I got a job I would be restricted to the weekends because working on a weekday would probably get in the way of my university hours.

“I do 20-25 contact hours a week with about 2-3 hours of study every day, so I’m already pretty busy.”

Fuller suggested that introducing a government program to help students gain employment could be helpful.

“They [university students] all want to work and they all need money, so they’ll usually do their job really well, but their priority one is their uni courses, so you can’t really think that a student is going to be more committed to work than their uni course.”

Companies like Coles Supermarket have taken steps to ensure that its student employees can balance their work and schooling life.

Kerry Voss, Acting Service Manager at Coles in Sunnybank Plaza, said “About 85-90 percent of our casuals are uni students.

“What we would generally do with students is give them permanency on the weekends.”

Voss also said taking availabilities into account is a priority when making the rosters.

“I check who’s available and then go from there.”

Unfortunately, not all work places operate like Coles as Maia Cairns, a law student, active member on the debating team and part-time worker, says “5 subjects on 5 separate days leaves me 2 free days a week to work – the weekend, which many work places find hard to deal with.

“Also with 5 subjects a great deal of study is required so its hard to balance work, co-curricular and university.

“Its hard to find an employer who is willing to work around your other commitments as it is very competitive in the job market.”

Labor Day Success for LHMU

The Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union rallied together in Brisbane yesterday for the 2009 Labor Day March, led by Premier, Anna Bligh.

Starting on the corner of Wharf and Turbot Street, the union members and their families carried on through the streets of The Valley and resided at the RNA showgrounds.

Upon completing the crusade, LHMU members and supporters were met with a BBQ lunch, live music and rides and activities for their children.

Aside from celebrating the success of their unions, LHMU wanted their Labor Day celebrations to be focused on community togetherness and family.

Kerry Tomlinson, Branch Assistant Secretary of the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union, was very pleased with the turnout and believes family involvement is key to what LHMU do.

“We try to encourage them (workers) to bring their families along, because without the support of unions, often times families don’t get a fair deal.

“We try and make it a family day so that workers can bring their kids so the kids can get a better feel for what the movement is about.”

Though family was a key theme of this year’s Labor Day, job losses also played a part.

Training Officer, Ron Simon, said that LHMU wanted to take a positive step towards fixing workplaces and to sell the unions as being ‘proactive’.

“There’s always the perception that unions are bad, we’re not.

“We’re a collective of workers who get together and just protect what we’ve got.

“We’ve got some very good relationships with bosses in certain areas and bad ones in others but it’s just about trying to get a fair days pay for a fair days work.”

Simon said that he believes the Unions were celebrating for the right reasons yesterday, though is unsure about whether or not the message will go out to the populace.

ANZAC Honour

Sunshine Coast residents paid their respects this weekend to honour those who served as ANZAC’s.

The dawn service and major service were both held on property owned by Buderim Mountain State School.

During the ANZAC Day march, Veterans paraded down the main street of Buderim, residing at the Buderim War Memorial Hall.

Private Matthew Jones, selected to drive five WW2 veterans, was given the responsibility of laying a wreath on behalf of the Australian Army Wing of the defence force.

Jones said he was ‘terrified of screwing up’ and dishonouring the day and those who gave their lives for the country.

“When it came time to perform my duties, I switched to the job at hand.

“Not letting yourself becomes over-burdened with emotions, and living up to any sense of duty is all part of the job.”

Internet woes, no worry

Griffith University has changed the internet provider on its residential colleges, much to the dismay of returning students.

The new ISP has limited downloading capacity and is more expensive than its predecessor.

Strong DC, the popular file transfer program used by the students has also been taken away from the students.

New students living on college believe these changes are ‘unfortunate’, but not unbearable.

Scott Taylor, a Software Engineering student new to college says he was only slightly disappointed about the LAN network being taken away.

“A local area network would be awesome…but I hadn’t heard of it (Strong DC) until I came here.

“I’m still excited about staying at BK (Bellenden Ker College), even if the internet isn’t the same as last year.”

Goon Files uncover faults in Griffiths new ISP

The new Internet Service Provider at Griffith Residential Colleges, Startech Communications, has admitted that their services are performing below par.

This discovery was made by the university podcast show ‘The Goon Files’, by one of their hosts.

Using the alias of June Files, the host called the company and they admitted that customers were complaining and that ‘there were no bells and whistles on it (ISP provider at Griffith University)’.

Contrary to this claim, Startech didn’t recommend their ISP to June Files but maintain the belief that, “What we’re delivering into the site, it’s perfectly fine”.

Startech’s service standards are still under scrutiny, as are the complaints made against the company.

Campus life, the best life

Students looking to study at Griffith University next year have been advised by Griffith Staff to stay at Bellenden Ker College.

The college, located at Nathan Campus, houses over 200 students and caters for all its resident’s needs, whilst also providing academic support.

Residential Advisor at Bellenden Ker College, Kerry-Anne D’Arcy, believes living on college will ensure students integrate smoothly into the university lifestyle.

“You [students] need support from people that have already done it.

“On campus, you’ve got people to advise you about what to do and what resources are available.”

More information is available at www.griffith.edu.au/accommodation.

GODS Almighty

Griffith’s Organised Debating Society at Nathan Campus is nearing its 2 year anniversary.

Their new executive team have played a part in helping reach the 2 year milstone by planning and implementing educational and social events to recruit an ongoing flow of members.

Alice Taylor, GODS Secretary, says she is ‘very pleased’ with the society.

“We’ve had a huge uptake in involvement since last year.

“We hope to eventually branch out into public speaking and attend Worlds, a debating competition against Harvard and Oxford.”

The Debating Society holds meetings every Tuesday, 5-7pm in N25_0.06. All are welcome.