Career Report

For my career report project, I had the pleasure of interviewing Alyssa Russo, a college

student from Massachusetts who works at the fine recreation of “Millworks” in Westford,

Massachusetts. When conducting this interview, I learned lots not only about the establishment,

but about Alyssa, and how she got this job, as well as what the journey has been like for her so

far. Alyssa is an event planner, specialist in customer service, and desk clerk. I selected her to be

my candidate for this project because being a kid from Westford, I always wanted to learn more

about Millworks and what goes on behind the scenes. Through a couple of friends who work

here, they gave me Alyssa’s contact information and said she could give me most information to

my questions, as well as a more in-depth look at how she manages her job. Alyssa’s history with

the Millworks is intricate. She picked up the job during Covid-19 when the world went into

lockdown. She said her dad helped her find the job as she was “looking for some money,” as

well as something to “keep her busy” with during the pandemic. Since then, she has taken some

time off from the job to focus on school but has been able to keep the title to her name. Although

Alyssa told me she had other prior history working with recreational events and some minor part

time jobs, this was her first real job, and she enjoys what she does.

The agency's mission is to provide athletic and social recreation for kids and teens to

enjoy. It states, “Millworks is your family's destination for Basketball, Soccer, Baseball,

Pickleball, Badminton, Table Tennis, Volleyball, Fitness Classes, and so much more!” (The

millworks) The Millworks hosts vast amounts of tournaments, team practices, company events,

rentals and more. Being a 24,000 square foot facility, you can find 2 full length turf fields (100
yards) tennis courts, over 12 basketball courts, a gym, batting cages, bouncy houses and more.

They aim to keep people of all ages active and healthy.

The clients who are served at this recreation establishment are people of all ages, gender,

and race according to Alyssa. From my experience, I would say that most of the population is

younger, such as kids and teens, but also some adults and older folks attend. You can find the

younger clients playing sports, going to the gym and being active. Older clients can be found

primarily playing things like pickleball, badminton, or going to the gym. As far as race or gender

there is a mix of all people, and not subject to just one sex or race. To attend this recreation, you

must have a membership, or get a daily pass for $15 which grants access to the whole facility for

the day. According to Alyssa, a basic membership costs $57 a month, which includes access to

the whole facility as well. Alyssa says this is most commonly what clients will choose when

attending Millworks. The audience that attends Millworks most commonly are people relative to

Massachusetts. A substantial proportion of the population is from in-state members, but for

sporting events and tournaments this can acquire a population from across the country. “It is

most attended by Westford and surrounding town citizens who aim to stay active for an

affordable price,” Alyssa says.

The Millworks provides many programs and services. From Alyssa and her event

planning she is constantly busy booking events and scheduling promotions. Often the most

common programs are camps. There are basketball camps run year-round, as well as speed and

agility, flag football, soccer, and baseball camps. These are found in the summer and winter

seasons and get a good showing of attendees making it difficult for Alyssa to manage at times.

Also, they have access to personal trainers in the gym and one-on-one coaching across the sports.

As far as services are concerned, we did not go too much in depth about these from the
interview, but Alyssa did mention the use of the spa, and massages that were available at one

point last year. She said you could book appointments online and have access to massages, as

well as a sauna. As far as the massages go there is a spa room at the recreation center which

holds these.

The list of employees for this center is extremely high, seeing that it is a large facility

which needs a lot of supervision and specialists in plenty of areas. Alyssa says that there are 70

employees who work full-time with over 150 part-time employees and staff members! Although

Alyssa is mostly a full-time employee, she has taken time off which puts her into the part time

employee category she says. I have plenty of friends who either have or have had jobs at this

establishment. When having such a large space, keeping it in tip top shape is vastly important in

the growth of population and income. The worker's chart is scheduled with a document sent to all

employees who are available each month. The full-time employees take most of the time slots,

but anytime there is help needed, which is common, part-time employees can sign up for a shift

and get into the mix. They can also request to be an everyday employee to avoid having to sign

up for every shift. Currently, and in the summer, this is what Alyssa does. She is mostly an

everyday employee with occasional off days.

This facility gets it money through the town and tax dollars as well as the rapid income

from members, tournaments, camps, fundraisers and more. With such a large facility to maintain,

it costs tons of money just to keep the lights on but according to Alyssa, Millworks is busy year-

round since there is always something to do inside no matter the season. I can recall plenty of

times I have been there with my friends in the middle of summer when you would assume a

sports facility would be empty and it would be so busy that we could not even find a place to

park or get a court to play basketball on. This recreation continues to find ways to get customers
through the door at all times of the year, which is a big reason this facility is still open and

continues to expand its size and look. On top of this income Alyssa tells me that there are doners

who spend large sums of money to put in new fields or equipment for this recreation. This is a

main attraction sight in the town of Westford, which brings constant money to the Millworks.

Some challenges Alyssa handles while in RPTM are planning and managing time slots

for practices and tournaments. This is a large amount of her job which she said she has improved

on since working there for four years. She says it can be chaotic especially when a team attempts

to book something at the last minute. As well as the bookings she also must deal with catering,

which some teams get for tournaments. She says this was very challanging to manage when she

first got the job, but she has since settled in, and these things are second nature for her now.

Some things which excite Alyssa about her job are that every day is different and that she never

knows who or what will walk through the door. She is constantly working with customer service

and planning, which is always something new. She shared with me that last week she had

someone come in asking to rent out the whole facility for a company party. As cool as this would

be it would cost a ton of money and is not very possible due to the winter bookings which are

constantly coming in, Alyssa said. Alyssa also has people she sees every day who she loves

talking to and getting to learn more about. She appreciates having a job in the RPTM field and

enjoys going to work every day.

Work Cited:

“The Mill Works.” The Mill Works, www.millworkswestford.com/. Accessed 25 Mar. 2024.