Connections with custodians and food service workers help students succeed.
By Karin GrennanStarting his fifth and final year at 海角社区CI in August, Spencer Mack faced life on campus without his girlfriend and most of his friends for the first time because they had graduated. But if he ever wanted to chat with a friend, he knew he could find one behind the deli counter at Islands Caf茅, where Silvia Valencia has been serving up sandwiches with a side of support for 14 years.
鈥淪he鈥檚 always been there, every semester,鈥� said Mack, a Mathematics major from Temecula. 鈥淪he鈥檇 always ask me how I鈥檓 doing and stuff, and I ask her how she鈥檚 doing.鈥�
Islands Cafe employee Kennedy Jones, mathematics student Spencer Mack, Islands Cafe employee Silvia Valencia with her daughter and 始23 alumna Yolanda Amador, and Islands Cafe employee Jonathan Amador.
Students often connect with the campus service workers they see regularly, particularly those who feed them and clean their spaces.聽
鈥淪ometimes they are seen as just manual laborers,鈥� said Associate Professor of English Georgina Guzm谩n. 鈥淏ut they are actually indispensable frontline staff. They are right there on the frontlines checking on students on an everyday basis.鈥�
That connection can be even more important for students who are the first generation in their families to attend college, Guzm谩n said. It helps when campus service workers are the same ethnicity as students鈥� family members, speak the language they hear at home, and have jobs similar to those of their parents.
鈥淲hen first-year first-generation students come to college, they feel alone, maybe alienated,鈥� Guzman said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really the dining hall staff, campus custodians and housekeepers who serve as a bridge between their home environment and university environment and help these students feel at ease, comfortable and like they belong.鈥�
Associate Professor of English Georgina Guzm谩n with Facilities Project Supervisor Rogelio Mendoza at Campus Workers始 Day Luncheon.
Guzm谩n knows from experience. A first-generation college student, she was excited to leave her working-class immigrant Latino neighborhood and live and study with other high-achieving students at UCLA. But she was negatively judged as a minority by competitive students, and service workers often were the only ones who spoke to or ate with her.聽
鈥淚 wanted to go back home, but when I would talk to the housekeeping staff and the women in the dining halls, I felt they served as kind of parental figures for me and they gave me that support that I needed,鈥� Guzman recalled. 鈥淚 could allow myself to be vulnerable with the staff.鈥�
Twenty years later, when Guzm谩n began writing her memoir during the COVID-19 pandemic, she realized these people provided one of the main reasons she stayed in college. Checking with colleagues who were first-generation college students, she discovered campus service workers helped them all get to graduation, yet nothing had been written about it.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really the dining hall staff, campus custodians and housekeepers who serve as a bridge between their home environment and university environment and help these students feel at ease, comfortable and like they belong.鈥�
鈥擥eorgina Guzm谩n
鈥淲e said, 'We need to compile our stories,鈥欌�� Guzm谩n said. 鈥淣obody ever talks about this.鈥澛�
The result was the 2022 book Campus Service Workers Supporting First Generation Students: Informal Mentorship and Culturally Relevant Support as Key to Student Retention and Success. Guzm谩n and co-editors La鈥楾onya Rease Miles, Dean of Student Affairs at Menlo College, and Stephanie Santos Youngblood, a former program director at UCLA, selected the 23 chapters from about 50 submissions.
Guzm谩n wrote a chapter about how her experiences at UCLA led her to value her family more, get involved in social justice efforts and eventually teach at a federally designated Hispanic-Serving Institution where she helps other first-generation college students embrace their backgrounds.
A chapter by Jennie Luna, an Associate Professor of Chicana/o Studies at 海角社区CI, talks about how Black and Latino security and custodial staff members were her first friends in graduate school and how 海角社区CI Custodian Rubicela Tafolla Morada became a comforting and trusted confidant while cleaning her office.聽
Custodian Maria Miranda visits with Student Government President Daisy Navarrete.
Nancy-Jean P茅ment, an Educational Leadership Lecturer at 海角社区CI, wrote about how the cultural pride of her father, a man of mixed Indigenous and qu茅b茅cois heritage who was a machinist at her alma mater, influenced her journey to teach first-generation, linguistically-minoritized, working-class students from historically marginalized groups.
The informal support and mentorship detailed in the book plays out across the 海角社区CI campus every day. Valencia, affectionately known as 鈥楽ilvia the Sandwich Lady,鈥� is a perfect example, Guzm谩n said.聽
Valencia had been training as a social worker in Mexico City before she immigrated to California at 18. After working in the fields and in catering, Valencia put to work her talent for helping people and her desire to see the next generation succeed at 海角社区CI. The Oxnard resident treats students the way she wants people to treat her children, who now range in age from 22 to 40 and make her proud.聽
鈥淚 know in my heart that I love the students,鈥� Valencia said. 鈥淚 care about them.鈥澛�
When she notices they are acting differently, she asks if something is wrong. They tell her when they are tired, or sad, or having problems with a significant other.聽
鈥淚 discovered that the students, especially the girls, are very insecure. So, I tell them the things that I want others to say to my four daughters, like, 'You are pretty,'" said Valencia, whose youngest daughter, Yolanda Amador, graduated from 海角社区CI in May with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in Psychology. 鈥淚 tell the girls, 鈥�'Mija,' don鈥檛 you see what you have? ... You need to accept what you have and accept you. If you don鈥檛 accept you, who is going to accept you?鈥� I always try to be positive with them.鈥�
Valencia and Custodian Maria Miranda showered first-generation college student Giovanni Rojas 鈥�23 with encouragement, support and advice throughout his time at 海角社区CI, often in Spanish. Seeing the women work hard motivated him to do the same as he pursued a double major in Business and Psychology and a minor in Communication.
鈥淢aybe they鈥檝e filled in for some of the conversations I would have had with my actual mother, but I didn鈥檛 get the chance to have because I would always be in school and working.鈥�
鈥擥iovanni Rojas
鈥淭hey have that familial type of vibe. I relate it to a 'tia,鈥� an aunt, giving you that type of advice, not just from a Hispanic point of view but also from a mother鈥檚 perspective,鈥� the Los Angeles resident said. 鈥淢aybe they鈥檝e filled in for some of the conversations I would have had with my actual mother, but I didn鈥檛 get the chance to have because I would always be in school and working.鈥�
When first-generation college student Daisy Navarrete began her term as Student Government President in June, she quickly got to know Miranda, who did much more than clean her office in the Student Union.
Maria Miranda and Daisy Navarrete
鈥淪he鈥檚 always saying, 鈥楪ood morning,鈥� to me. She speaks Spanish, so I鈥檓 always practicing my Spanish with her,鈥欌�� said Navarrete, a Health Science major from Oxnard. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like a piece of home here.鈥�
After the book was published, Guzm谩n helped organize a Campus Service Workers始 May Day Luncheon to formally acknowledge their contributions and thank them.
To thank Valencia, Mack launched a GoFundMe campaign for her in Fall 2022. He raised more than $600 from 34 donors, mostly students, and presented it to her after one of her shifts.
鈥淪he鈥檚 been a big part of my college life. She鈥檚 given a lot to me,鈥� Mack said. 鈥淚 wanted to show her that she has more of an impact than she might think that she does.鈥�