By Hailey Heinz

College is usually a time when twenty-somethings are allowed to linger between youth and adulthood — unless they are at Northeastern.

For six months out of the year, a Northeastern student has the option to be thrust into the full-blown “real world,” complete with business suits and water coolers. But the transition back to classes, hoodies and afternoon naps after six months on the job can sometimes be a rough one.

Northeastern has taken a step to ease this transition, as well as the transition for students packing up the jeans and sneakers, and created a new position, filled in October, dedicated to helping students move smoothly between classes and co-op.

Sonya Mariotti, manager for co-op connections, has had three years of Northeastern experience working in Residential Life as an assistant residence director and as director of leased properties. She will now take on the task of bringing students to and from co-op with minimal stress.

Mariotti, who came to Northeastern with a psychology degree from American International College, spent the past several years at Northeastern earning her master’s degree in applied educational psychology while working at ResLife.

“The whole purpose of the degree was to continue in higher education, and this position opened up,” she said.

Although Mariotti has some projects in mind for her position, she said her job will largely depend on what students need.

“I think the students are really going to drive what my day is like,” she said. “Right now there are lots of different projects that I’m working on … what I really want to do is meet with students and get feedback from them.”

Mariotti has scheduled meetings with the Student Government Association and Resident Student Association, and said she hopes these groups will be a source of ideas.

One of Mariotti’s main responsibilities will be helping students find housing if they are choosing to co-op outside of Boston.

“Right now I’m working with some students who are going to New York and helping them with the process of apartment hunting,” she said.

Another one of Mariotti’s goals is hosting social events for students making a transition, either from classes to co-op or back again.

“I would love to have a ‘welcome back to campus’ social every time students are coming back, and also invite the students who are leaving to come,” she said. “Then they could really get the opportunity to talk to people who have had those experiences, and then they would get a first-hand account of co-op.”

Mariotti said she also plans to involve alumni with co-op students around the country, and to explore options for students who are around campus during intersession due to their co-op schedules.

“If that’s something students feel is needed, it would be very easy to put something in place for students if they’re still kicking around here when the university is closed,” she said.

Although she has these ideas in the works, Mariotti said her emphasis will be responding to student needs and keeping them informed.

“I really think it’s going to be student driven, which is great,” she said. “I’ve really found a lot of students are just saying that they want a point of contact with the university. I want to keep students in the loop. If they are active on campus when they’re in classes, we want to keep them active. It’s hard when you work all day, you don’t see those advertisements you would see when you’re walking through the quad.”