Garrett Winters:Facilities Coordinator of Housing and Dining

One of the many duties of American University’s Housing and Dining Department is to make sure that all furnishing in the six dormitories on campus are in their proper place. On one day in August of 2007, however, not only was the furniture not in the right room, it wasn’t even in the building.

In Leonard Hall, a dormitory housing 422 students on campus, a couple of students decided to bunk their own beds, unsuccessfully, on top of each other in order to create more space in the room. As a result, the bed fell through the window. Throughout the incident, Garrett Winters was taken aback, but stayed calm enough in order to make sure no one was hurt and to help clean up the area where the bed had landed.

Such is the life of Winters, 28, the facilities coordinator of the Housing and Dining Department at American University for the last two years.

Winters everyday tasks include, supervising the maintenance crews for the five dormitories on campus, emptying the eagle bucks machines every week, setting up the 62 floor lounges and the study areas with furniture, and doing anything else having to do with the physical buildings that house the 2,312 students on campus.

Winters came to the job wanting to combine a new challenge with his love of campus life.

“I was looking for something different. I enjoyed college campus and thought it would be fun to come back.”

One of Winters biggest challenges has been the 2008-2009 school year with its record enrollment of freshmen. As a result of having approximately 1,400 new freshman on campus, more “triple” rooms have been formed, which means many freshman will have to room with two people instead of the normal one. More than 180 new sets of furniture have been installed in the dorms.

Despite the extra work, Winters still manages to keep a smile on his face.

Michelle Smith, the Guest and Public Relations coordinator, at American University says that Winters helps make the day go by faster.

“He’s fun. He lightens the mood,” she said.

At work, they have developed a give and take relationship. When Michelle needs something such as a monitor, Winters is always there to help out, and when Winters needs something, Smith is right there to help as well. On Super Bowl Sunday, for example, he helped her move into her new home.

“I couldn’t have done it without his help,” she said.

But with all the responsibility of the physical plant at AU, Winters is not immune to frustration.

Mike Tsugawa, one of the Resident Maintenance Crew members who works for Winters, says Winters looks for top performance from the resident maintenance crew members that work directly for him.

“He’s been stressed because he wants people to work up to their potential,” Tsugawa said

Even Winters admitted there is room for improvement in the facilities area on campus such as in his bi-weekly meetings with the resident maintenance crew members.

“I need to come into these meetings more prepared rather than just winging it sometimes,” he said.

It’s been a long road for Winters to Housing and Dining. Winters, born in Washington, D.C., now resides in Prince Georges County, Md. After high school, Winters attended the University of Maryland where he majored in Criminal Justice. He also worked in its equivalency to American’s Housing and Dining Department, which gave him a new perspective on dorm life.

“I now have a greater appreciation for the people behind the scenes,” he said.

Winters wishes there was a reason he hasn’t gone into criminal justice yet. He has taken the LSAT exam, but for him, the timing just hasn’t been right.

Sometimes, though, he said he wishes that some on campus would show a little more appreciation for all of the hard work that his staff does on a daily basis. He said there are times when they rearrange furniture for students even though there only job is to place it in the room. Some students will not even thank them and ask them to do it over.

“We’re not a rearrange your furniture service to make your room look good,” he said.

After graduation, he worked in an apartment complex doing similar things to the tasks he has now at AU. Still, Winters wanted to work in a college, as he felt it would allow for a friendlier atmosphere. He decided that his skills would be best served continuing to work in dormitory life at AU.

Winters describes one of his best skills as not panicking under pressure, especially when people are unprepared. This is a necessary trait to have in this kind of work because things are always changing like the number of students attending the university.

One of the primary reasons he decided to work in dormitory life was because of his own experiences in the dorms and the people whom he lived with. He says that he still speaks to them on a regular basis.

“I was in a triple and I enjoyed my experience in the dorms unlike other students,” he said.

Something that Garrett finds amusing is the fact that students at American complain about the long walk from Anderson Hall to Leonard Hall, which is about 500 yards. He remembers the two mile hikes he had to take to the other sides of campus at the 38,000-student University of Maryland.

Still, Winter’s youth, gives him an advantage when it comes to working with college students, he said.

“I think anyone working with college students, the age is a factor,” Smith said.

Garrett said he would eventually like to go to law school and focus on corporate law. He also says he is open to whatever the future might bring.

“I love my staff, but you got to do what you got to do,” he said. Besides, it’s less likely that a bed would fall through a window at a law firm.

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