Ivy Tech Northeast student finds 9-to-5 job on campus

It is the mark of a good higher education institution when, after graduation, students just don’t want to leave.

It’s the mark of a really good higher education institution when its students are so prepared for the workforce, they don’t have to leave — they can just find jobs in that same school.

Take Tim Bredemeyer. He’s currently a general studies student, and he first found work at Ivy Tech Northeast as a student worker for Marketing and Communications in 2012. Then he moved over to Career Services. Earlier this week, however, he started as a full-time, benefits-included employee of the College — he’s the assistant to Laura Edwards, the College’s executive director of Resource Development (AKA: she raises scholarship money).

This is Tim’s third try at getting his degree at Ivy Tech; the first two times, he says, he didn’t take his schooling seriously enough.

“But I knew it was affordable and a good place to get  started,” he says, “and now that I’m here, I don’t really want to leave.”

As a student worker, Tim names a number of duties he enjoyed, especially taking photographs at various College events. One image even wound up on the cover of Inside, Ivy Tech Northeast’s alumni magazine.

Without even realizing it, his new job is one that will help prepare him for his future career; when he graduates in fall 2014, he plans to get his bachelor’s degree in political science at IPFW and go on to law school. Through the events he attends with Edwards, Tim will get to meet local and state politicians, company presidents, and CEOs.

“I’m making good connections for my future goals,” he says.

Before even landing his current position, Tim was scheduled to attend an event in Florida later this semester with Chancellor Jerrilee Mosier and Edwards. He would represent the College and tell potential donors about being an Ivy Tech student. Now that he works for Edwards, he will play double-duty on the trip: sharing his Ivy Tech story and keeping track of Mosiers’ and Edwards’ schedules.

“I love working here,” he says. “Everybody’s pretty cool. It’s laid back. All you have to do is focus on your work.”