Welcome back to Spring 2001. For some of you, this is it! For others, this is only another semester. To all of us it’s back to the nasty problems we encountered last semester. Parking is still tight, security is sparse and the food is GOD-AWFUL, but there are definite positives to life here at Quinnipiac.
Have you ever stopped, while running to get to class on time because the clocktower is ten minutes slow, and thought about how beautiful this campus is? When I arrived for a tour my junior year of high school, my tour guide disclosed the information that Quinnipiac is one of the top ten nicest schools on the East coast. While I don’t know if that information is exactly true, I do believe that our school is probably the most beautiful place around. But does anyone know how this place is kept so clean?
I, for one, know a couple of the people that keep Quinnipiac running so smoothly. Have any of you ever met Phil Carolla? He greets me everyday as I walk to the ever-popular Chronicle office. He knows my name, he knows which office is mine and he genuinely cares if I am having a good day or not.
Phil manages to worry about me and my mental state while keeping the whole second floor of the student center clean. He’s the one who brings trays back to the cafeteria when people leave them on top of the garbage cans. He works hard to keep the bathrooms clean so that we may have a pleasant educational experience without shunning the facilities. Sometimes, just a “hello” from him makes me happy.
Have you guys ever met Rosa? She’s one of the cooks in the cafeteria. Rosa is one of the happiest souls I have ever met. I hear she makes amazing omlets, egg & cheese sandwiches and her pasta fagioli is amazing (first hand experience).
Along with her is Julia. She’s a cashier in Cafe Q and will never hesitate to converse with you as you pay for your food. These people make the cafeteria a some-what pleasant place to visit.
Do you ever go by the mail center to complain about a package you have failed to receive? If you have, that’s wrong because the mail center’s Marisa Melillo seems hard at work whenever I visit. I can’t even imagine being in charge of all those thousands letters and packages. The fact that I get my mail everyday is amazing to me, and I thank the hard workers in the mailcenter for it.
Also, keeping the grounds clean are the facilities people who have come to my suite many times because for some reason my window shades always fall down. They are there when any of the residents need them for any reason from changing the light bulbs to clogged toilets. They do all the jobs no one else wants to do, and from the looks of things lately, they are underappreciated.
In fact, the few security guards that do a job for twenty men are underappreciated. The people in the Registrars Office who get things right most of the time are extremely underappreciated.
So, I guess this is just a wake-up call. Look around during your daily rituals and notice all the people that are hard at work around this campus. This campus doesn’t stay beautiful and smooth running by itself. Let’s start to notice and appreciate the unappreciated.