By ELI LEE
Contributing Writer
Located in Crossgates Mall is the Melting Pot, and for one Saint Rose student going to work there is actually fun. That employee is Kennedy Montayne,18, she has been working at the restaurant for around three years.
Montayne is a versatile employee; she’s a service assistance, hostess, and is even training to become a bartender. As a service assistant she helps around the restaurant, assisting the bussers and the waiters. When she’s a hostess she seats people and deals with customer complaints. The work can be frustrating and stressful at times, but she still loves her job, all 25 to 30 hours a week of it.
“It’s like working with a family. You get to go to work, be loud, and have fun,” Montayne said.
Working allows her to pay for her car. That car allows her to buy art supplies and get to and from work. She doesn’t want to work so much, she said, but needs the money.
“She’s a very hard worker, and sometimes she makes mistakes but just like everyone else does. She either makes up for it or makes the situation better. She has good vibes, and is fun to be around,” said Morgan Simmons, a co-worker.
Montayne’s positivity and smile makes customers want to come back.
On top of working full time Montayne is also a full time college student at The College of Saint Rose majoring in studio art with a concentration in drawing and painting. She’s currently a freshman living on campus, specifically Brubacher Hall.
“I was driving through Albany and saw the campus one day and just thought it was adorable, so I’ve wanted to go there ever since,” Montayne said.
Not only has she been in love with Saint Rose since she was a child, it’s very close to her hometown of Colonie, where she graduated from Colonie Central High School in 2015.
In her little free time Montayne is a typical college student. She hangs out with friends, does school-work, listens to music, eats food, and naps.
After she finishes her degree Montayne has big aspirations. She hopes to work at Disney studios as a designer. If that doesn’t work out she wants to be a creative arts therapist, which is helping people of all ages through the use of art.
Montayne has been an artist basically her whole life. She would draw all of the time because her mother and father did as well, and like any child she wanted to emulate her parents. She started joining art clubs in kindergarten and when she got to high school she always had an art class on her schedule.
She likes Saint Rose because it’s small, and she said the art program there is “amazing.” She likes the personal interactions she has with her professors and fellow students, just like at work it’s one big family.
She has a busy schedule compared to most freshman but Montayne exemplifies what a “Golden Knight” is with her work ethic, kind-heartedness, and spirit.
“She’s a wonderful, caring, and hardworking individual with the work ethic of a god. She tends to seek and spread kindness throughout the many friends she has,” said Shayne Cardarelli her friend and co-worker. “She is by far the best person I’ve ever met and she is one of a kind and is as well a true-hearted person.”
