Paige Hassen: JRN

Central Michigan University sophomore, Justin Hassen, has been a hardworking individual for a few years now. He was working well over 40 hours a week from two jobs he got the summer before his freshman year of college. Justin kept one of his jobs, working at Red Lobster, throughout the following school year, learning to manage working 30 hours a week while being a full-time student. He did the same thing this past summer and school year up to last month. Justin’s job at Red Lobster has recently been suspended because of the State of Michigan’s stay-at-home order due to the COVID-19 virus. A coworker of his had mentioned that Meijer was hiring when their jobs were suspended, so Justin put in an application and was immediately hired.

Justin has been a part of the Health Professions Residential College at CMU for two years already. His career goals include wanting to be a doctor, preferably an orthopedic surgeon for a sports team, and potentially work in trauma service later on. He knows it won’t be easy, but believes he will achieve these goals by studying. “Studying a lot, doing research, putting in volunteer hours,” are all things Justin said will contribute to his future success. He originally wanted to be working in hospitals during this pandemic so that he could get some experience while helping the community. Being only a sophomore in college, he didn’t have the credentials quite yet. Although not in a hospital, he still beleives that working at Meijer during this time is helping him reach his goals. “I want to look back and not say that I sat down,” Justin said, “I think that for my profession I would be treating these people, and since I’m not qualified right now, I’d still be able to help the community in some way and that’s at least something.”

CMU has had to resort to online classes to finish out the semester due to the stay-at-home order. Justin is now having to balance working 32 hours a week with being a full-time online student. “Stress would be an understatement,” he said on the subject. “But then again my profession is going to be very stressful, so I need to learn to cope with that.”

Working in a public space during a pandemic is also a major health risk. Justin was worried about his health at first, but said he has since accepted that he will most likely contract the virus in some way. “Again, I want to be a doctor, so I’m going to be exposed to these kinds of things,” he said. “My goal is to help people, so right now I can.”

Jody Hassen, mother to Justin, had a different insight on her son working at Meijer during the pandemic. “I’m worried about him staying healthy, but I’m proud of him,” she said. “I’m proud of him for stepping up and doing what he needed to do to meet his financial obligations and to also feel like he’s giving back.”