Staff Member Acts as Second Mom to Students
After most Kettering College faculty and staff have left for the day, Donna Day, who works on the Environmental Services team, begins her shift to work during the night hours. For the past seven years, she’s been caring for our building, but more importantly, she’s been caring for our students.
The radiologic technology (rad tech) faculty have caught on over the years that Day gives all of herself in her work. Rad tech chair and professor Tuta Ionescu says, “When we work late in the office, we see Donna, and she has become our close friend, especially during the pandemic when she worked extra hard to make sure everything was cleaned again and again to help ease everyone’s stress.”
The rad tech faculty has gotten to know Day so much that they now consider her a close friend and check in with each other most times she works. She jokingly shouts out to faculty to “Go home!” as she starts to clean the department, and they’re still there after hours.
She has created a bulletin board for students to take uplifting stickers. She says, “I know they appreciate them because as soon as I put them up there, they’re gone by the next day.” She has a 24-year-old son, so she has a special place in her heart for college students. She admits, “I’m kind of a mother hen, and I take students under my wing. I talk to them, and they know they can tell me anything. They’ve started calling me Mama D, so I know they like being cared for.”
One year she proposed to put up a Christmas tree in the rad tech hallway, and everyone agreed it would be a nice way to feel festive. The department decided it would be fun to leave it up year-round, and now Day changes the decorations for every season’s holidays, such as Halloween, Easter, and St. Patrick’s Day.
Professor Ionescu says, “The decorations soon became known as ‘Donna’s surprise,’ and everyone looked forward to what would be next. Donna says, “The tree is a real morale-booster for students, especially for ones who are far from home.”
Mama D has a heart for reaching others and making sure they are cared for. She says, “I’ve always been a positive person my whole life, so I can’t imagine being any other way.” Ionescu says, “Donna is not just taking care of our department, she is a part of our department. We all love her. Our students are very thankful for her, and so are we.”
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