The campus celebrity this week is Cheryl Christopher! You may not recognize this name, but Cheryl is the manager of the Philips Hall Mail Center who helps you with all your postal needs and woes. When you walk up to the desk, confused about what size envelope you need or how much a package costs or weighs, Cheryl is there to help with endless patience and a kind word for everyone. She makes Ithaca College campus a brighter place and she kindly agreed to an interview so we can get to know her a little bit better.
HC: How did you find this job and how long have you been working here?
CC: 5 years. I saw the job posted and was looking for a new job after I got done doing my daycare business. I had been a mail career in the ‘80s and a postal clerk so when I saw this job opened I knew I would fit right in.
HC: Do you like your job?
CC: I love my job. I mean I cannot wait to come back to work on Mondays. I even come to work sick because I literally love my job. I love the atmosphere and every day is totally diff. I’m a happy person anyways and you guy make me even more happier. I love to hear you guys laugh and have fun.
HC: Where do you find the patience to deal with confused students every day?
CC: I was raised on a farm with a very close family. Being around a lot of animals and coming from a big family you learn to have a lot of patience. And I love to explain to people so that they understand.
HC: Last year around the holidays, I was sending a package home but didn’t have enough money on me. I didn’t know there were so many rules about mailing packages, but you helped me put it all together and then lent me the missing money. You wrote out an IOU on a sticky note and said that I could repay it any time or simply repay you by doing something nice for somebody else. Is that something you do very often?
A: I do do it very often. And I have not had one person who has not ever paid me back. Coming from the small town of Newfield, which is not too far from here, you could walk into any store and someone would give you the extra money. So the system is basically do something nice for somebody else sometime or come back and pay me.
Q: Can you tell me a little about the collection of envelopes and boxes you’ve collected in the corner of the mail center?
A: Ah, the recycle bin. It’s there because there are so many people that mail little tiny things and our supplies here are $4.95 and up. I started to tear off the nametags of old packages and just reusing them and you’re saving like a dollar something. We don’t recycle as much as we could here but we do our best since we really don’t have permission to do so. It works as long as we keep it neat and organized, so we don’t get in trouble.
Q: Do you have any advice for our collegiette readers?
A: Well, my dad, who I’m very close to, has always told me be yourself, try to stay positive, try to see the other people’s point of view, stay focused. And try to have a dream or a goal and try to achieve it and if not, move on to something else. There’s always going to set backs no matter what it is, either in your personal life or at your job. So you just try to continue to stay positive. I’ve had a lot of bad luck in my life but a lot of people don’t know that because I’m a very positive person and I work through it. (Problems) seem like a big deal at the time. But I always sit back and say Cheryl take a deep breath. So, I take a deep breath and I try to think about what’s going on.
I can give you an example and tell you a few of the bad things that have happened to me. I have two children that I’ve raised and they’re in their late 20s. My daughter, who is 26, is a recovering addict and I’m raising two of her children. She has been a victim of some gang related violence right here in Ithaca and has actually been shot and she is very lucky to be alive. She has been clean for a year now, so we’re happy about that. Through the help of our faith sister and our church and through her positive energy she has become clean. I never thought I would be in this situation at nearly 50; I’m like a mother again. So, I’ve had a few negative things happen to me, those are just recent, and I just try to stay focused because if not, I do feel like staying in bed. But I have to get up and come to work, I love the atmosphere here it makes me happy. I try not to dwell on negativity and I don’t surround myself with negativity. I think that’s one important thing, never surround yourself with negativity or negative people.
Q: How does it feel to know that you’re an IC institution?
A: I’m actually very proud. I’m very overwhelmed and just extremely happy. Because this is just me; so I’m really honored. When you (first told me) I literally had tears in my eyes, I was just so honored that people are even saying nice things about me.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Ithaca chapter.