Inaugural Working Learner Appreciation Week celebrates UTSA student employees

APRIL 15, 2025 — UTSA will host its first Working Learner Appreciation Week this week to recognize the more than 1,000 student employees who contribute to the university’s success. Held in alignment with National Student Employment Week, the celebration runs through Friday, April 18, and will feature events and activities to honor and build a sense of community among student employees — also known as working learners — and their supervisors.    

The week’s main event, Working Learner Appreciation Day, will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday, April 16, on the Rowdy Lawn outside the Student Union. The event will include a food truck, music, de-stressing activities like yoga and therapy animals, and games including cornhole, basketball and soccer.

While the event is open to the entire UTSA community, current working learners will receive special access to free food and opportunities to win giveaway prizes.

“Working Learner Appreciation Day is all about recognizing our student employees and the hard work they do while balancing school and having a job.”

“Working Learner Appreciation Day is all about recognizing our student employees and the hard work they do while balancing school and having a job,” said Nashaly Nuñez-Rivera ’23, student employment specialist with the UTSA Najim Center. “This is the perfect opportunity for our working learners to take a break, relax and spend time with their peers.”

After Working Learner Appreciation Day, students and their supervisors are invited to attend the UTSA baseball game on Thursday, April 17, at 6 p.m. at Roadrunner Field, where they will have their own section to watch the game. Students will receive free admission, and supervisors and staff can purchase discounted tickets.

The inaugural Working Learner Appreciation Week is part of the university’s broader On-Campus Student Employment Professionalization initiative, which aims to reimagine and improve the student employment experience for Roadrunners. The initiative has focused on reframing on-campus jobs so they can better support students’ professional and personal development.

“Over the past few years, we’ve been intentional about rethinking on-campus roles at UTSA, so they better align with our students’ larger career goals,” said Ginnifer Cié Gee, UTSA associate vice provost for career-engaged learning. “We want to ensure that our students are learning transferable skills in these jobs — like critical thinking, communication, teamwork and leadership — that will be vital in the workplace of any career that they choose.”

The initiative has already had a measurable impact on UTSA students like Camila Gonzalez, a junior studying human resources management. Gonzalez works as a supplemental instruction leader in UTSA Student Success, where she helps peers with coursework, learning strategies and test preparation for microeconomics courses.

The role has provided Gonzalez with hands-on experience and helped her develop strong communication, leadership and problem-solving skills, which will be fundamental for her future career in the human resource field.

UTSA Career-Engaged Learning leads these efforts and more as part of the university’s Classroom to Career initiative, which provides real-world learning opportunities and experiential programming where Roadrunners gain practical experience and explore potential career paths while earning their degree.

— Chloe Johnson