Student ResTek employee is Washington's Student Employee of the Year

A detailed, conscientious Computer Science major who helps maintain students' Internet access is this year's Washington State Student Employee of the Year.

Junior Masen Furer is Washington
state's Student Employee of the Year.

Junior Masen Furer, who was also named Western's Student Employee of the Year, is a server administrator for Residential Technology Services (ResTek) who has worked for ResTek since September 2009. He takes care of the servers in Bond Hall that provide Internet access to residents on campus.

Western's Student Employee of the Year contest begins with a campus-wide call for nominees. In the past four years, there have been 24 to 27 nominees per year, says Caryn Regimbal, financial aid manager in Western's Student Employment Center.

According to his performance review, Furer has raised the bar for precision and customer service in ResTek. "He is able to envision something, create a plan and implement the smallest details, making his input very valuable to University Residences," the review says. "He is conscientious and takes his privileged role seriously."

Furer says his work ethic comes from his appreciation for quality and his interest in the work he is doing. "I really appreciate that I get to do something that I enjoy and something that I know about," he says.

Furer received certificates, along with a $50 gift card to the WWU bookstore. "A lot of it is bragging rights," he adds.

After Furer graduates he plans to move to Portland, Ore., but doesn't have specific plans. He hopes his award-winning work ethic will help him land a job he wants.

"Because of this award I can pretty much choose what I want to do," he says. "Hopefully this is some indication that I am employable."

Any student employee on campus can be nominated as long as they have worked for the university for at least three months full time or six months part time and are in good academic standing. A committee comprised of faculty, staff and students select a campus winner based on the student's reliability, quality of work, initiative, professionalism and uniqueness of their contributions to their job.

Once a winner has been picked from Western's nominee pool, that winner is entered into the state level contest. The Western Student Employee of the year has won at the state level for the last three years, says Regimbal.

Furer is now entered in the regional level. The Western Association of Student Employment Administrators selects a regional winner who will compete for the national award, presented at the National Student Employment Association conference each fall.