Gems of ISU too often hidden
Hundreds of staff members make the university run, but struggle against class and age barriers to institutional recognition.
Martha Reed had just started classes for the second time at ISU in 2001, and noticed that none of the other students would talk to her.
“I was just like, ‘Man, have I got the plague or what?’” Reed remembers.
One day she got the courage to ask a younger student near her why they avoided her. The 20-something man replied, “You know it’s like we’ve got our mom in class.”
She was one of a small minority of non-traditional students at that time.
“Your people always set the curve, and the grade in the class, and the expectation,” the young man told her.
Reed, now administrative assistant in the Multi-Cultural Services and Programs office, began as a student at ISU in the late 1970s. She even took an English class with Larry Bird. But she left school before earning her degree.
She got married and had a child, but she stayed connected to ISU as a staff member. She first served as a custodian, and then moved into a position at the Career Center, where she served for 20 years. That is the position she held when she graduated with her bachelor’s degree in December 2015, and was honored as the Winter Commencement speaker.
Reed moved into Multicultural Services and Programs, where she hopes to grow into the next phase of her service to ISU. She is one of about 600 staff members who keep the university running smoothly.
And while staff at ISU receive an 80 percent discount on tuition to ease the cost of transitioning to students, overcoming the cultural obstacles that come with student life can be more difficult.
Reed recalls responding to the young student in her class — the one who said he felt like she was a “mom” who didn’t fit in.
“I’m here to learn, just like you. I didn’t have an opportunity, and life got in the way before I could make it to school when I was your age. Okay? So, I tell you what this deal is: You treat me like I’m one of you, and don’t even ask me for Kleenex,” she recalled, laughing.
Reed is not the only one with an experience like this. Michelle Lewis, a current student and events set-up supervisor, tackled a similar problem when she started school.
Lewis remembers taking an evening class and noticing that the students were withdrawn. They wouldn’t talk to her. She was one of two non-traditional students at the time. She said she broke that barrier when she earned a better grade than the younger students on the first quiz, which prompted them to come to her for help.
Lewis said being an older student was an advantage in that class because she understood the instructor’s “old-school” teaching style.
Making the transition from staff to student can be tough, so Reed said staff members come to her for advice about going to school themselves. They voice some of the concerns they have.
“[They say] I’m too old. How are they gonna be treated in the classroom? Are they gonna be able to make it, working full-time and trying to take classes,” Reed said.
Juggling work, family and school responsibilities is also a concern. But Reed says their biggest concern is always being too old to fit in.
But another obstacle between staff and students, from Reed’s perspective, is that students don’t always see work that staff do, or see the importance of their role on campus. Students think the only other job at the university is teaching.
“Anytime you go out or you tell someone where you work, or they see your shirt, they immediately say, “What do you teach?” Reed said. “Even the outside community has no clue of everything that makes the university run.”
Lewis has also experienced this under-appreciation.
“We do the set-ups a lot of times and I don’t think a lot of the groups appreciate the work that we put into it, they just think that they can come in and just change everything as if it’s okay as if it’s okay to change, and they don’t realize the time that I put in,” Lewis said. “You get a lot students … that don’t appreciate the work behind the scene for their event.”
Both Reed and Lewis pointed out that staff who become students share a lot of challenges with traditional students. Even with the discount, they have to pay for their books, and parking is just as big a struggle for staff as students.
Reed encourages the staff who come to her to put aside concerns about their age and to take on the challenge of student life. She encourages the younger students in her life, as well. Reed passes along encouragement, in part, because she was encouraged to pursue her education by a inspiring figure at ISU.
When she first started working as a custodian at ISU, one of her daily cleaning stops was the office of then-President Richard Landini. While there, she would often pull a book off his shelf and read in his office while on her break. She read Tolstoy and other classic authors and would dream about helping people from an office like his.
“I always said, ‘If I could just get to the other side of the desk, I know I can make a difference with students,’” she said.
One day, Dr. Landini found her reading one of the books. She thought she was going to be fired.
Instead, he told her, “these books were meant to be read.” He supported her dream and gave her confidence.
On her last day as custodian, Dr. Landini asked her to hand him the cleaning rag she kept in her back pocket.
He then took the rag and replaced it with a briefcase, telling her that she would need it for the next step in her journey.
“That day I cried,” Reed said.
She keeps the briefcase close to remind her how far she’s come. And she shared the story with her fellow December 2015 graduates.
