Enrico Sala has always worked as a student employee since he first started at LMU. Now as a senior, he feels like his journey through student employment on campus has challenged him and allowed him the opportunity to give back to LMU. “LMU has given me a lot throughout my college experience, but I have also given a lot back by making an impact on campus and for me, that is a great feeling.”
Enrico Sala ‘19
Major: Mechanical engineering
Hometown: Sampaio, Brazil
Life outside of the classroom has held many experiences for Enrico, such as being involved with ASLMU, Delta Sigma Phi (ΔΣΦ) and being involved with the international student community and international student orientation. Each of these experiences has helped him to develop a sense of community, “Joining my fraternity as was bit part of creating a community on campus for me,” said Sala. “When I go home to Brazil, my family picks me up and drops me off at the airport. Now that I am in a fraternity, they are my community here. They are the “family” who pick me up at the airport and drop me off here in America.”
After holding several on-campus student employment positions, like student manager in the Intercultural Suite, Enrico decided he wanted a position that would challenge him, so he applied and got the position of General Manager at The Loft. “As the general manager, I am responsible for the facilities and I serve as a resource to all staff. If anything happens, I am responsible for it and I take that responsibility very seriously.”
One of Sala’s favorite memories working at The Loft was one evening he came into work to open and the kegs were not working, so all of the beer wasn’t cold enough to serve. “We had to quickly problem solve and figure out a solution to have something we could serve,” said Enrico. “We ended up buying a bunch of ice and got everything to cool down. Even though this was a stressful moment for my team. It’s also still one of my favorite memories of working at The Loft because we were able to problem solve quickly and learned to deal with the unexpected.”
With the work and connections Sala was making, he began to see the LMU campus in a new light. “One of the impacts of working on campus, is that you start to see the campus in a completely different way and you start to take more ownership of the campus,” said Sala. “You are a part of it as a student and you help to provide a service. And one of the best parts is the connections you make along the way because you get to know people from the school that you might not otherwise know.”
The Loft is LMU’s craft beer and wine bar, which is managed by LMU’s Campus Recreation and Student Facilities department. Open Monday through Friday, The Loft provides a dedicated space for current LMU students, faculty, staff, and alumni over the age of 21 to drink responsibly, socialize and learn about the world of craft beer.
LMU celebrates Student Employment Week April 8 – 12, 2019. The week is full of events to celebrate and show appreciation for LMU’s hard-working student employees.