For years now there has been a common sight in dining halls on campus. A student mopes through the dining room, head hung down, clearly feeling low, when all of a sudden there is a "Cheer up, honey!" and a huge hug from out of nowhere. The student smiles and returns the hug, already feeling better.
Dorothy strikes again!
A supervisor in Campus Dining Services, Dorothy Johnson is known simply as "Dorothy" by anyone who has been to Stevenson or Talcott in the last several years. She started working for the College in 1959 or 1960, but left soon after to raise a family. She returned in 1979 and has been an important part of many students' lives ever since. When asked about her job, Johnson declared, "I love what I do."
As a supervisor, Johnson is responsible for coordinating all the efforts in the dining hall for any particular meal--everything from the cooks to the servers to the dish cleaners. But Johnson doesn't let the job end there. "I'm the kind of person who wants to put a little oomph in what I do,"she said.
"A lot of these students are far away from home. I want them to know when they walk in here that somebody cares," Johnson said. Making students feel as if they have a place they can go to where they can leave the troubles and hassles of college life behind--even if it is just for a short while--is what Johnson works the hardest to accomplish. "My job is to do the best that I can do and be as pleasant to the students as can be."
"The students are my big family, they are tomorrow. We need to raise them up and praise them," she said. "The students are Oberlin." Though the task she has set for herself seems monumental, Johnson's motivation is simple: she believes that life is too good to waste time, and when she sees someone getting down in the dumps, she wants to do something about it.
Johnson's background has a lot to do with her optimistic outlook. Family has always been a very strong emphasis in her life, she said. Her family had "dedicated parents, a strong sense of Christianity, and love and harmony." This is why she feels it is so necessary to make somewhere on campus feel like home. "My mother always said you have to give what you want to receive."
A self-described workaholic, Johnson said Oberlin used to be an even bigger part of her life than it is now. "While I was still living in Oberlin, I used to come down to Tappan Square and just watch the students. Now that we have moved to Lorain I don't get the chance to see as many students outside the dining halls."
The extra steps that Johnson takes to make students feel appreciated have not been made in vain. Her easy smile and big hugs have brightened many a day for homesick, lonely students. Her philosophy, her style, her life's work at the College can be summarized in one of her most frequently used pick-me-up phrases.
"And you thought you left your mom at home."
--Adam Shoemaker '96
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