Summers at Rice feature a hint of serenity compared to the academic year’s vibrancy — with many of my peers traveling, interning or researching around the globe, I was part of a small student population who spent the summer in Houston living on campus. All in all, there is lots going on from May to August here at Rice.

Let’s start with how I was able to live at Wiess (even though I’m from McMurtry) all summer long — with a meal plan as well — for no additional charge courtesy of my job as a Summer Student Maintenance Rep/SMR with H&D. Every year the Housing and Dining department will hire around 20 students to help with the many conferences that Rice hosts during the summer, and the aforementioned details are just some of the perks of working for them. A short list of conferences we hosted this year include the award-winning Tapia Camps, Gulf Scholars Program (GSP@Rice), Genuine World Cup, and the highly-acclaimed International Space University (ISU) Space Studies Program. I was able to help accommodate guests from all over the world during their time here as part of the Summer SMR team, and I also had the opportunity to learn from and work with the amazing Maintenance team at H&D.

I got to ride around in golf carts, receive mentoring from our technicians, listen to some special insights regarding future construction projects, and come to the rescue whenever someone had a malfunctioning bed or AC! In addition, there was our annual series of H&D lunches.

Every summer Friday, departments at Rice will take turns making lunch, and I got to help Maintenance serve over 150 plates when it was our turn.

Other highlights from my summer included meeting former Houston mayor Annise Parker during a June event at the Rice Ion District and performing for the Astros as part of their 713 Day celebration alongside my mariachi group. I even worked as an Owl Guide for my second job, which gave me the chance to meet the amazing people at Rice Admission.

What I did during my weeks off looked a little different. My family isn’t in Houston (at least not yet…), so I had to visit them at some point! I went to my brother’s high school graduation in Dallas, attended a Christian summer camp called RECWEEK with some of my Rice friends, and also visited family from my mom’s side in the Dominican Republic (it had been over nine years!). We had quite the reunion once we arrived to my mom’s hometown of La Vega — after spending some time on a Punta Cana beach, of course.

I’m so grateful for all of the experiences that I had this summer, and also for all of the guests that I was able to help as part of the H&D and Owl Guide teams. Whether you visit Rice during the summer or the academic year, you can expect to see a campus that’s full of life — and you’ll also realize that we take the Rice spirit everywhere!

- Berny, McMurtry '26 (Published on 8/14/2024)