Postlllistress Brings Sllliles to Faces of University Students Sparkles appeared in the students' eyes when they opened their mailboxes and realized they were not empty. Throughout the school year, students would check their boxes daily in hopes of finding some type of mail - whether campus mail or "real" mail. According to Kathleen Crouch, the postmistress , Harding receives about 4,720 federal letters each day, not counting packages and campus mail. "Pledge Week and Christmas are the most hectic times. However, they are the most enjoyable times because we get to see the neat, creative gifts students give to each other," Crouch said. Crouch has been the postmistress at Harding since 1984. "I love working with the students . The best part , I guess , is when I find students who are a little grumpy and I can take the time to give them some attention. Sometimes, the students just need a mom away from home ," she said. "It's an advantage to have a little world with Christians all around," she said. "Serving the students is the best pa11 of my job. I really, really enjoy it. " Harding's has not been the ordinary post office. Since it's at a university, it has often received unusual mail. "Sometimes we receive crickets and such for Dr. Plummer's biology labs. Those are the most creative packages, " she said. Cathleen Crouch stay s busy distributing "fetters f rom home " and other mail. Checking mail was an impo11ant pan of students ' daily schedules. Photo by Michael Bass. Some mail is undeliverable because the student population is transient and individuals often fail to leave a forwarding address. "The federal mail that we can't deliver has to be sent to the dead mail office. The campus mail that we can't deliver, we tape near the entrance where students can identify and claim it," Crouch said. The mailroom has always been an exciting place - a place Tish Elrod, an accounts receivable clerk in the business office, totals charges for a student account during registration . Photo byMichael Bass. S~aff 154~----- Academics where students' days were made special because they received packages or letters from home .. . a place where mailroom workers were quite popular with students when they received those special remembrances ... and a place where Kathleen Crouch could be that "mom away from home" that so many students needed. - Julie Anderson Bruce Mcl a rzy, ministerfor the College Church of Christ, and Dwight Smith, campus minister, exchange ideas about working with students on campus. Photo by Michael Bass.
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