When I got hired at Campus Design and Copy my sophomore year, I thought it would just be a job. I was told to get involved on campus, so that’s what I did – I saw a flier reading “Now Hiring” and jumped on the opportunity.

I had no idea where the store was, or what the people who worked there even did. I had absolutely no idea it was one of seven student businesses on campus. Most of all, I didn’t know I would be signing up for one of the most intensive jobs I’ve ever had. And I didn’t know I would be managing all of the store’s departmental orders by the end of that semester in which I was hired. And what I really didn’t know, what I really could never have expected or predicted, was that by being hired at CD&C, I was ultimately being accepted into a family made up of the most hard working, genuine and amazing students on this campus.

The student business community at the University of Massachusetts is made up of passionate, independent students who make things happen. When I say make things happen, I mean actually put things into action: we propose an idea, form committees, and follow through on our goals. We take what used to be just thoughts in our minds and put them into play. We take simple ideas and turn them into sometimes small and sometimes monumental movements to further improve our businesses and community. This is a skill that is absolutely necessary for any field of work after college. This is a skill I learned working at Campus Design and Copy.

You don’t need to be a business major to run your own business, as demonstrated by the graduating seniors of CD&C. These people are from all different backgrounds, with different passions and interests, but together, we make up one small, invested part of the student business community.

I had the pleasure of working with Alyssa Styckiewicz, a communication disorders major. She revolutionized our academic department, emailing hundreds of professors and increasing our revenue by 47 percent last year. I worked with Alison Crofton-Macdonald, a studio arts major. She was one of the co-managers on the hiring committee, overseeing who would becomee the future leaders of our business and making the tough decisions.

I worked with Amanda Santos, an anthropology major who was the communications manager for the entire store, ensuring that the lines of conversation were always intact. There is Donald Loch, a journalism major who had some of the best customer service the store had ever seen. I worked with Alex Appel, a mechanical and industrial engineering major who managed our register cash-out on a day-to-day basis.

There is the talented musician Jake Clough, a marketing major who always kept a level head when the store was packed and busy. And, of course, there is Kristin Peters, an actual business major who was at one point our financial consultant, and we just couldn’t let her go – so we hired her for her last semester on campus.

So the best part about working at CD&C is I get to say that, although I am an English major, I worked with all of these other majors, and we ran our own business.

Although so many of us are leaving, the ones who are staying behind will continue to grow and improve the business like the absolute bosses we know they are.

Working there has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my entire college career; it actually throws me off if a potential employer asks me about my major during an interview and I don’t get to spend the entire time ranting about CD&C. Anyone who has had a class with me knows CD&C is all I talk about, and it’s for a solid reason; I met some of the most beautiful and incredible people, and I am lucky to not just call them my co-workers, or even just my best friends. They truly became my family, and it is a community that I will never forget.

Emily Mias is a Collegian columnist. She can be reached at [email protected].