Jonah Swartz works at St. Joe’s Cafe. Sarah Katherine Sisk | Collegian

While sophomore Jonah Swartz cooks over a 1500 degree fire at St. Joe’s Café, he often gets chatting with customers.

“These people I’ve never even met are like, ‘How hot is it in there? What are the pizzas like? Tell me about this crust. What’s the sauce like?’” Swartz said. “It’s pretty enjoyable to just see that interaction from the community.”

While many students have jobs on campus, some work at local businesses, where they step aside from school and invest in the Hillsdale community. Sophomore Ellie Dice works as a barista at Rough Draft, and said she appreciates seeing the world outside the college perspective.

“I think it’s really important to have experiences off-campus and outside of your age group to get context,” Dice said. “Especially if college is your whole life, if college isn’t going well, it could be really devastating.”

Besides working as a barista, Dice also sells homemade sourdough to Rough Draft and several other clients. Dice said she enjoys the satisfaction she gets from creating.

“It does feel really lovely two times, three times a week, to make something with my hands and then be able to look at it and say, ‘I made that, and I get to eat it,’” Dice said.

Freshman Catherine Freidenfeld coaches at Hillsdale Gymnastics, Dance, and Cheer Center, and said she likes stepping away from campus.

“It provides a broader perspective of the world as it functions as a whole because Hillsdale can be so isolated,” Freidenfeld said. “But even within our own town, if you try, you can still have a greater connection to other people in other walks of life that aren’t just from your Hillsdale College community.”

Freidenfeld said branching outside of campus grows her appreciation for Hillsdale.“It really does a world of good for opening your head space and that also lets you focus better on your school and your campus when you are here,” Freidenfeld said.

Getting involved outside of the college prepares students to enter the real world after they graduate, according to Swartz.

“It just gives you that practice of realizing you’re going to work inside a different community,” Swartz said.

Swartz said working at a local business teaches students life skills they cannot learn from their classes.

“It just makes you get out of your comfort zone,” Swartz said. “You have to go walk into real life. Working an on-campus job is really good. An off-campus job, however, gives you experience putting yourself out there in situations that you may not easily have access to.”

Dice also said the experiences she has at work change the way she looks at life.

“The Walmart delivery people who deliver at Rough Draft a lot of times are Venezuelan and some of them can’t speak any English,” Dice said. “That’s been a cool opportunity to have that perspective really forced on you that the problems you face in college are not the biggest deal in the world. There are people immigrating from a failed state.”

While Dice said she learns valuable lessons from the people she encounters at work, she also forms friendships with them.

“I really enjoy the social aspect of being at the counter,” Dice said. “There are friends that I have because of Rough Draft — that’s where I met them. They came in more than once, and then we just got chatting.”

While working off-campus allows students to meet new people, it also gives students an opportunity to build relationships with Hillsdale students past and present, according to Swartz.

“I love working with the people there who I wouldn’t really see on a regular day basis but who are somewhat connected with the school,” Swartz said. “The bartender lived at Donnybrook — where I live right now — and we shared stories about it, even though  he graduated 10 years ago.”

There’s a sense of fulfillment that comes with doing a job well, according to Swartz.

“I’m glad I’m able to work off-campus and have a job like that where I can take a break from  my studies and learn how to do something that’s human,” Swartz said. “And then that shares in beauty. Good pizza is beautiful.”