The People Behind The Scenes
Mary Quinn, Field Instructor
If you’ve ever been to MarineLab, whether with a school group, during Family Day, or maybe with a Teacher Workshop, you might have noticed that there’s a certain magic here. Schedules run smoothly. Meals appear hot and on time, bathrooms are spotless, and broken air conditioners are usually fixed within the hour. For anyone wondering who was responsible for this magic, for turning a good experience into a great one, these are the heroes behind the scenes.
We’ve heard time and time again that one of the best parts of MarineLab is our meals. All our participants can see how hard Food Service Director Andrew Barck and assistant Janette Holmes work to make sure everyone who comes through those cafeteria doors leaves well-fed and satisfied. Andrew is always on the move; even while we chatted, he never stopped stacking fresh vegetables in our walk-in in preparation for a visiting college.
Andrew & Janette, loving life in the cafeteria at MarineLab
For Andrew, an average day is working from 6:30am to 7:30pm. Janette, who also works long hours during our season, says her day consists of “Making sure the food is good so groups keep coming back.” Prior to every group’s arrival, Andrew has to check that we have enough food, check schedules and menus, ensure that special dietary requests are fulfilled, and most importantly check for any allergies. When asked about their favorite part of the job, Andrew replied “I like working with all the people here and the instructors. And the kids too. I like talking to them every day and hearing about what they’ve learned.” Janette pointed to the colorful pages hung around the doorway to the cafeteria and said “I like reading the notes the kids write for us. Those make me happy.”
Next up are the people who keep the lights working, among other things: our maintenance staff Jorge Zelada and Andy Bohl. They are always fixing, painting, leaf-blowing, replacing, building, and taking care of anything else that needs maintenance and repair. While their exact tasks depend on their projects, there are two things they can both agree on: they spend their days “fixing things” and their favorite part of the job is the cafeteria food, especially “chicken nugget day” in Jorge’s case! Okay, that last part might have been because their interview was right before lunch…or was it?
Another staff member who works hard to perfect our campus before, during, and after programs is our housekeeper, Yanette Taveras. You may have met her in passing, watched her joke around with the instructors or seen her dancing across campus, broom in hand. Yanette says her average day includes “Cleaning everywhere and just trying to keep things tidy. That’s not always easy!” On the days that a new group arrives, after making sure everything is cleaned and sanitized, she gets ready to welcome them with a big smile. Yanette’s favorite part of the job? “I like to clean and I like the friendly people here. It’s nice to talk to the groups and welcome them.”
Housekeeper Yanette is committed to a clean MarineLab and is always smiling!
These folks keep our students and teachers happy and ready to learn with our instructors. There are many more people that you may not see during your visits, including our office and remote staff, who do the same. It takes a lot of behind-the-scenes work to make each visit to Marinelab special and we are lucky to have such incredible people on our team!