Employees at APU give their perspective of community and the need for grit when moving forward.
From maintenance workers to employees at the Writing Center, it takes a lot of moving parts to make a university move forward. Azusa Pacific wouldn’t be the same without the people working behind the scenes helping to make this school the place we call home.
I interviewed three APU employees and discussed what APU means to them, as well as their thoughts moving forward after last year’s budget crisis.
Jonathan Hall, Summer Maintenance & Resident Advisor
“APU is an institution that exemplifies a Christ centered life. From its core principles to the way different departments like facilities operate on a daily schedule,” said sophomore Jonathan Hall.
As a resident advisor working 40 hours a week doing maintenance for the school, the Christ-centred atmosphere at work helped him push through on those long summer days.
“[In] both jobs, I was led by people who personally connect with myself and my coworkers daily,” said Hall. “Each day while working with facilities we would start in prayer.”.
As our school moves forward from our deficit, Hall emphasized that “we must keep to our core principles and not compromise in our actions or beliefs. After the change in leadership for the university, it seems evident now that we are on the right track to recover financially.”
Rylie Cabalse, Event Services Staff
When Ryle Cabalse first arrived at APU in 2018, he immediately recognized that APU was “a beautiful community that proclaims Christ despite our differences,” said Cabalse.
Working as an employee for the university’s event services, Cabalse has experienced the feeling of community in his workplace.
“It has been such a blessing,” said Cabalse. “Working here I am treated very fairly with the generous hearts of my supervisors and coworkers.”
In order for our school to remain united and bounce back from recent setbacks, he was quick to note that Christ needs to be kept at the center.
“We have to keep Christ as our focus and work for him by honoring him,” said Cabalse. “It won’t be easy to come out of this setback but I have a firm belief that we’ll make it out and be on an uprise.”
Ryan Negrette, Writing & Speaking Center Tutor
When Ryan Negrette thinks of APU, the first thing that comes to mind is that “APU is community and APU is the home where I belong,” said Negrette.
As a tutor in the Writing and Speaking Center, he considers it one of the best environments he has ever worked in.
“Working for APU is such a great experience,” said Negrette. “My supervisors are amazing people and you can feel the Christ centered values at work daily in the office.”
As we move forward as a university, Negrette believes APU must remain intentional in its pursuit to keep its core values.
“I think the best thing to do is to create action and work for it. If something is wrong, at least if we are trying to do something about it we are doing the right thing,” said Negrette.