Behind the Scenes with Business Services
Marissa Hanson ’24 supports professional staff through bookkeeping at Rec Sports.
Rec Sports is a space for myriad activities ― fitness class, flag football, even fencing ― but none could be possible without effective management in finance. Sure, you may visit the Rec to escape the books, but tucked away in the Student Rec Center is a hidden band of Business Services staff keeping the books of Rec Sports, ensuring your favorite programs continue their operation and provide quality service. One such individual who has dedicated her time in
Aggieland to the cause is Marissa Hanson ’24.
As a Business Services student assistant, Hanson supports professional staff in the processing of transactions from every corner of Rec Sports. In addition, she helps full-time staff maintain the department’s financial records to ensure no expense is left unchecked.
“I do a lot of things to help the pro staff with their day-to-day tasks,” Hanson said. “That could be filing paperwork, sending out emails, posting journal entries, or just other accounting processes that we have to do to just make sure all the work gets completed within a day.”
Being a senior Business Services student employee, Hanson acts as a guide for her fellow staff. She is involved in the hiring committee and has supported the hiring and training of four new team members; she works alongside fellow students to revamp onboarding within the team; and she demonstrates to junior staff how best to do their daily tasks, mentoring as needed.
Hanson said, “Being able to work in Business Services at Rec Sports has really been able to help me grow, especially in all the soft skills, like communications and leadership and things like that, so this has really been a great avenue to strengthen my career.”
For Hanson, working at Rec Sports isn’t just about filing financial documents or working with Excel spreadsheets. It’s also a pocket community within the greater university environment, a place where being a college student isn’t merely a responsibility decorated with lectures but an experience rich in friendship and cooperation.
“Working at Rec Sports has helped me to realize that even though A&M is so big and so large, you can absolutely find your little tight group, and being at the business services team is exactly what that is for me,” Hanson said. “Most of my friends have been my coworkers and teammates, so that’s been so sweet.
She continued, “Tracy [Carroll] and Arranna [Bennett] have been so sweet at advice. Being able to navigate this season of life with them has been really incredible, and I’ve just made great friends that I really hope to stay in contact with even after graduation.”
As she walks the stage at the end of this semester, Hanson hopes to find a similar sense of community in her career.
‘There’s something so special about a career or a company you can walk into, and you just feel so loved and so connected to your teammates, that you it makes you want to stay there forever,” Hanson said. “There’s been so many people that I’ve worked with here at Rec Sports that have been here for so many years, and it’s so encouraging… going into this workforce, I want to be able to find a company or a place like that to where I can stay and grow and just have a great career there.”
Marissa Hanson graduates from Texas A&M University in May 2024, after which she will return to her hometown to support the financial division of an aviation fueling company.
