| Written by Arianna F. |
The definition of an “unsung hero” is a person who does great work but receives little to no recognition. Simple gestures can cause an endless ripple effect. Sometimes we tend to take people for granted, whether they’re our professors or the less-noticed people in our lives like our mail handlers, custodians, or tech support people. Everyone deserves their own spotlight because, without these unsung heroes, our lives would be totally different.
The first installment of the Unsung Heroes Series spotlights Rutgers University–Camden’s mail handler, Sierra M. Sierra comes into the Office of Graduate and Undergraduate Admissions twice a day to pick up and drop off mail. I love our little chats about his cute Cockapoo, sharing relatable Filipino stories, or just simply talking about what we did over the weekend. Without people like Sierra, Rutgers–Camden wouldn’t be the same, both because of the job he does and because of who he is as a person .
Sierra is a recent graduate from Rowan University and started working at Rutgers–Camden in November of 2018. There have been rough patches during his transition from college life to “real” life, but he says “That’s common. What they teach you in school and what you actually learn in real life are two completely different things,” and both valuable.
Outside of work, Sierra is a huge movie and TV show buff. He loves watching Netflix and just finished two shows based off of comic books: Umbrella Academy and Doom Patrol. Rutgers–Camden hosts an annual Comic Con (April 27, 2019), but Sierra plans on attending for other reasons. He will be helping out with one of the food trucks on site, Dan’s Waffles. Sierra gave me the inside scoop on one of their delicious menu items called the Triple Chocolate Cake Shake. It consists of scoops of ice cream, lots of chocolate syrup, and yummy cake batter. Sierra says “The food is so worth it. Trust me, once you try the milkshake, you’ll never go back. I know it sounds so wrong, yet it’s so good.”
If you ever see Sierra on campus, don’t be shy! Say “hi” (and “thank you”)! Something as simple as that can really put a smile on someone’s face.