CAMBUS Driver Studies for Advanced Biology Final at Work
Inspiring UI students with her nose to the grindstone work ethic, CAMBUS driver Leah Barker has been studying for her advanced biology final at work.
“I typically have a lot of down time at a job like this,” Barker said. “In fact, I spend the majority of my shift just kind of sitting down in a chair and staring out a window. Sure, I have to let students off and on, yell at people to move to the back, but there’s plenty of time in between those two things to look over my vocab flashcards. With such an overbooked schedule, I have to be able to do a little multitasking here and there. I can’t think of a better environment than a boring, part-time university job to draw out the steps of protein synthesis. Just don’t tell my boss. He can be a hard-ass about this kind of thing.”
Still, Barker stated that there were some drawbacks to this newfound study habit.
“Usually it’s fine, but occasionally cars will start honking a lot and that can be a distraction,” Baker said. “Sometimes other students around me get a little rambunctious too, going so far as to yell pretty much right in my ear, telling me to ‘look out’ or asking me what the hell I think I’m doing. Got to ignore them and keep at it—some people are just rude. Oh, and on top of all that, yesterday at work when I was labeling parts of the lymphatic system, these total strangers started banging on the side door, screaming, covered in blood and glass. That was crazy. Luckily I’m a very diligent student and was able to get back into my notes and keep plugging away.”
At press time, Baker reported that multiple flashing lights in the rearview mirror were totally disrupting her workflow in memorizing the functions of potassium ions.