Off-campus student workers get to meet the neighborhood

While many students explore Davis, Teele and Union Squares for the food, shops and occasional festivals, some students take a step further into knowing the Medford/Somerville area they call home for a transient four years.

Various students who work off campus, as well as some business owners, shared their experiences as part of the local business community. Among those whom we interviewed, the students who work off-campus get a better sense of the local community, while the businesses that hire them enjoy interacting with the student population.

Lorenza Ramirez, a senior who works at Loyal Supply Company in Union Square, said she loves the time she spends working there.

“I have met such interesting people. I can’t overemphasize that,” Ramirez said. “People of all ages from the most random backgrounds will come in on a Saturday morning.”

Ramirez, who has worked at the design studio and gift shop for a year, said her job gave her a local insight that she would never have had otherwise. She encourages Tufts students to venture off campus in their search for jobs if they are able to.

“I’ve just had the most fascinating conversations and learned a lot about Somerville politics and things going on, whereas at Tufts I never would have known about any of that,” she said.

Brendan Bennett, a sophomore who works at Starbucks in Davis Square, agreed that the job has given him new opportunities to interact with people outside of Tufts.

“I think it's really interesting being able to get into the community in that way,” he said. “It kind of gives me like a whole other group of people to get to know and to get to know the area better.”

Bennett, who has worked for Starbucks since his sophomore year of high school, said the job exposed him to a part of the community he otherwise would never have gotten to know.

“Even though there's such a diversity at Tufts, it is still kind of a bubble. So it's cool to meet people in the real world that have already graduated school,” Bennett said. “It's just a whole other experience that I enjoy.”

Mary Kurth, the owner of Spoke Wine Bar in Davis Square, echoed that the Tufts community was valuable to her business.

“Tufts is an institution of learning and we definitely get a lot of people that are very curious — whether it's a type of cuisine or a type of grape, we get clientele that are looking to explore,” she said.

Kurth, who reopened Spoke in late May after a yearlong closure, said that the volume of Tufts students adds a huge variety to her clientele.

“We have this huge diverse community just up the street from us that is always seeking out new experiences,” Kurth said. “That's a huge body of people that we would not have access to as a business otherwise.”

Maddy Behr, a junior who worked at Spoke Wine Bar this summer, expressed that the experience was very meaningful for her.

“I definitely valued working at Spoke for more than just the money,” she said. “I learned so much about organization from working there.”

Behr, who worked as a food runner at Spoke, said the job required her to know the ingredients of a wide array of different dishes.

“I had to always have everything memorized, because every time I put the plates down on people's tables, I had to explain to them what was in the dishes,” she said.

Senior Maya Pace works at Magpie, a gift shop in Davis Square that features artwork and crafts from local artists.

“I feel like the Tufts presence in the context of Magpie was good,” Pace said. “Students would come into the store once in a while and it was just normal situations — no one was being disrespectful or anything.”

Emily Wensberg, the Magpie store manager, said Tufts students make up a significant number of the store's customers.

“It makes such a difference when students are back for the semester compared to the summer,” Wensberg said. “It's busier.”

Laura Bousfield, an assistant store manager at bfresh in Davis Square, echoed the sentiment that college students strongly impact the grocery store’s business.

“I'd say 50–60 percent of our customers are students,” she said. “I don't know if they're all Tufts students, but many are.”

Bousfield explained that bfresh intentionally markets itself to the age bracket of college students.

“A lot of what our target market is towards is millenials, which is students,” she said. “So without them, bfresh wouldn't necessarily be where we are.”

Christina Theopanis, co-owner of Semolina Kitchen & Bar and Dave’s Fresh Pasta, stated that Tufts has been integral to business at Dave’s since the beginning.

“We've been doing business with Tufts our entire time we've been there, since we started the sandwich business and catering it's been over 10 years that we've been working with Tufts,” she said.

While Theopanis acknowledged that Dave’s location in Davis Square also brings in customers from the community, she cited Tufts as one of its chief customers.

“We’re right in Davis Square so it's a popular neighborhood, but the university definitely helps,” she said. “It keeps the neighborhood diverse, ever-changing, there's always an influx of new people moving in.”

Theopanis expressed excitement for Semolina to be in Medford after working at the Dave’s location in Somerville for so long.

“We're really happy to be in Medford. The city's been really supportive, the university's been very supportive. They wanted us here and we're psyched about that."