As the second-largest student employer on campus, each spring the UCR Library takes time to celebrate the students who comprise half of our staff team.

At the 2018 Student Employee and Staff Appreciation Luncheon held in the lower courtyard at Rivera Library, we also recognized these 27 library student employees who will graduate with UC Riverside’s Class of 2018: Majany Alcantar, Abigail Arreola, Anastacia Azor, Adrian Barragan, Henry Cho, Jessica Reyes Flores, Alondra Gomez-Andrade, Candice Kim, Joyce Kim, Hayden Jackson, Mohamed Jawara, Dana Jee, Eli Labinger, Stephanie Lim, Leilani Lopez, KaJuan Matthews, Samantha Oh, Melinda Pho, Rebecca Raven, Ricardo (Ricky) Rios, David Roualdes, Nicole Prado, Mary Sarchizian, Abigail (Abby) Siegel, Samuel Tang, Hogan Tran, and Kiara Wright.

We asked our 2018 graduates to share their favorite memories from their time spent working at the UCR Library, and what they would miss most about working here. Here are some of their responses:

“My favorite memory from working at the library is seeing Scotty and getting free snacks during midterms week. What I will miss most about working at the library is not seeing all the people that I have gotten to know these past four years while working here.” – Joyce Kim

“Both my favorite memory and the aspect about working in the library I'm going to miss most have to do with my coworkers. I've met the most amazing people in Special Collections and I can confidently say that I have best friends I would have never met if it weren't for the library. I'm lucky enough to have found someone from my hometown, but those I'm leaving behind will be sincerely missed! With my brother starting his college adventure in Southern California, I'm excited to say that I hope to return for a visit soon.” – Leilani Lopez

“My favorite memory from working at the library was the many student appreciation events that I had the opportunity to experience. I felt that my work at the library was valued and that motivated me to go the extra mile to provide the best customer service possible to our library patrons. I will miss the family-like bond that I have been able to sustain with my fellow coworkers and supervisors at the library. There is a sense of teamwork and belonging among other library staffs and coworkers that is very refreshing, and I will be missing that tremendously.” – Mohamed Jawara

“My favorite memories are going to be the night shifts with LSM [Library Security Monitors]. I always was a night owl and it was kind of funny to get my mind off finals. I am going to miss everyone I got to work with. Whether it be in the break room at Orbach or in the back room in Rivera, it was always a pleasure to just small talk with other workers. The work environment has always been something I loved about this job and I'm going to miss it.” – Ricky Rios

“What I will miss most about working at the library would be the flexibility of schedule here. I know once I enter a different job outside of UCR it’ll be hard to have a flexible work schedule, but I am grateful that UCR Library provided me with a flexible schedule so I can manage my class schedule and family.” – Majany Alcantar

“I enjoyed scripting a streamlined process for imaging patron computers, which we have been using for a couple years now. It was a fun learning experience that I was able to apply immediately. I will miss the flexible hours and friendliness of the library staff.” – Sam Tang

“I'll carry with me so many wonderful memories from my time at the library, mostly because of the wonderful people and environment I worked in.  I learned so much from my supervisor (shout out to amazing Wendy), and other co-workers. The experience I gained working at the library will be invaluable in the next step of my journey.” – Nicole Prado

“I'll most miss the feeling of having found a patron exactly what they need. It's just a great feeling knowing that you were the one who got someone exactly the thing they needed to finish that assignment or to complete their research.” - Hayden Jackson