Employee recognition corner - 10 years
by Sharron Walls
This is the second in a series of Beeper features highlighting employees with multiple years of service to MCG as we count down to the annual Employee Recognition Ceremony. In this issue, we take a look at three employees in one small department who each will pick up a 10-year pin Oct. 12 in the Auditoria Center
Melanie Timmons, Cookie Dodson and Shelba Bowman began working at the Child Care Center within four months of each other in the winter of 1995-96. The trio has been taking care of MCG kids together longer than some parents manage to stay married.
Ms. Bowman watches over the babies. “I like the newbies,” she says with a gentle smile. “I started with the infants and just never got away from them,” adding that taking care of children is not for everyone. “After about six months, if it’s not in your blood, you don’t do it.” The staff at the center is close as well as enduring, she says. “We’re like a family.”
That sentiment is echoed by Ms. Timmons, stealing a moment while her class of 3-year-olds nap. “The staff is great: we all work together.” The kids, naturally, are her favorite part of the job, but the parents earn her praise as well. “I have great parents. I have a child in my class now, I had his mom before.” This is Ms. Timmons’ second time around with the Child Care Center; she worked here in the ’80s before her husband was transferred overseas.
Project coordinator Cookie Dodson has spent the summer wrangling with the kids in the Active BONES Kids Camp, a joint venture with the Wellness Center. She teaches music, among other things, to the children the rest of the year, and says that while singing is a big part of her life, “children are my calling.” Clearly, she enjoys what she does. A bundle of energy, she excuses herself and gets in the middle of a game of dodge ball.
For more information about the Employee Recognition Ceremony, contact Training and Education at ext. 1-3196.
The deadline for the Erie P. Blissit Award for this year’s outstanding administrative support employee is Aug. 14. Contact Debra Arnold at ext. 1-3196 or to submit your nomination.