At SHS, graffiti fills the bathroom stalls, food gets left on lunch tables and students wait to be seen by nurses on a day-to-day basis.
While this has become the “norm” for students, SHS continues to run in an orderly fashion due to the faculty members responsible for taking care of these duties.
Those staff members do more than what meets the eye with happiness.
“I’ve been blessed to be here at SHS for 10 years. I love the family feeling of SHS, from administrators, to teachers, to support staff, to cafeteria staff, to custodial staff,” Nurse Tracy Chupp said. “We are all part of the SHS family, and we all matter.”
Although custodians, cafeteria workers and nurses may not interact with students regularly, they play an important role in ensuring the school functions properly.
Custodians
Prior to filling her current position, Vash served as a part-time lunch lady. Afterwards, she transferred to the custodial department in 2013.
For the past 13 years, Vash has worked hard, had good attendance and exhibited an even better attitude.
At the time, the former head custodian fell ill and left the position. Vash’s leadership skills were what allowed her to fill the open spot.
Now that she’s in the position, Vash is responsible for helping set up, break down and clean up almost all of the events at SHS, regardless of how big or small.
“I believe it is the highest priority to keep everything as clean and sterilized as possible for the health and safety of the students (and) staff,” Vash said.
Other than cleaning up after events, Vash makes it a priority to regularly tidy up around the building before it reports back to the maintenance department.
At the end of the day, Vash knows this is what she and the other custodians signed up for, and she loves what she does at SHS.
“I would like (for) students to know that myself and many of the custodians love our jobs,” Vash said.
Cafeteria Workers
Head lunch cashier Connie Koleczek has been with SHS for four years. Her role in the kitchen staff is to sit and check out students’ meals in the “Main Course” lunch line.
Koleczek is one of 16 lunch ladies who serve the hundreds of students at SHS, and breakfast is the busiest time for her.
The breakfast lines typically consists of 600-700 students. In a span of 25 minutes, Koleczek checks out a large portion of them, averaging around 250 students a morning.
“It’s busy for me because it’s (such) limited time,” Koleczek said.
Despite her busy schedule, Koleczek doesn’t just check students out. She cares for them and supports the SHS food rescue program.
At Southport, school lunches are free of charge. However, there are nutritional values set in place so students must have at least three items on their tray.
Some students eat their entire meal, while others leave their unwanted food on the front tables. The food leftover on the tables then gets packaged and sent to families who are in need of those goods.
“Somebody who needs it, gets it,” Koleczek said.
Koleczek believes this process plays a crucial role in the cafeteria because it ensures that all families are fed.
Nurses
Registered and certified school nurse Tracy Chupp has been serving at SHS for over 10 years. In the building, she manages the clinic and provides for the health of both staff and students.
Chupp is responsible for taking care of any injuries that occur during school hours. She tends to students’ health conditions ranging from chronic to acute, which include diabetes, seizure disorders and asthma.
Besides assisting students physically, Chupp spends the entirety of the day caring for students by completing their paperwork and immunizations.
“It may not always be one on one, but my job (frequently) has to do with caring for students,” Chupp said.
Nurses are in charge of making sure each student is compliant with their required immunizations, as well as gathering their required documentation for any illnesses that student may take on.
The clinic averages 130-150 non-scheduled visits and 30 scheduled visits per day. But regardless of how busy Chupp is, she always loves her career.
“I choose to work here at SHS because students matter to me,” Chupp said.
