From the Wrens Nest: School building and grounds director makes a difference

Full disclosure: I live with a Wrenshall School board member, Janaki Fisher-Merritt. Most days when he comes home from a late meeting, I brace myself to hear a recap of difficult issues and tough decisions. Last week was not one of those nights. Instead, Janaki came home with a story about an act of kindness and compassion.

This year there is a student who needs daily shots for medical care. It was a traumatic experience for the student as well as the staff since the shots had to be delivered in the main office and the student had difficulty calming down before they were administered.

Mike Smith, the director of buildings and grounds at Wrenshall, tried to envision a solution.

"I have a saying," said Smith when I talked to him this week. "If you can't change something, change the way you think about it." He found a way to decorate a space for the student and make it feel like it was theirs: buying a Disney-inspired curtain, soft blanket and cozy chair out of his own pocket.

"I have a granddaughter, I imagined what she might like and found a blanket that would be really soft and comfortable," he said. Now the student is better able to handle the stress of the situation, and that has put everyone else around at equal ease.

In talking with Smith, I got a picture that this kind of passion for the people he works with and for is not a one-time occurrence.

"I like going home at the end of the day," said Smith, "but I also really like coming to work in the morning. The folks here at Wrenshall just care about each other. I like what I do and I like the people."

I asked Smith, who has been with Wrenshall for almost three years, about the pride he takes in his work and he told me a story from his last position.

"I used to work at a nursing home and the owner was pretty picky. He took me aside one day and told me we were going on a trip. We got into his car and he drove around the block and parked right back in front of the building. I wasn't sure what was going on but he told me to look at the building from the point of view of someone who was just coming in for the first time. That was a great learning experience and I've tried to apply it going forward - I want to create that 'wow' factor for people."

He showed me a photo of a popcorn machine. (Smith takes a lot of photos, I can see evidence of the pride he takes in his work.) The machine was fully caked in cooked-on grease. The sports team uses the machine for concessions and they had come to Smith because it was no longer working.

"We had a warranty on it still, but the kettle had to be cleaned to get a new one," he said. I wondered aloud how he cleaned it - having run a film festival, I know what it is like to scrub a kettle. "A lot of elbow grease" said Mike, "but we got the new machine under warranty."

This kind of detail about proper popcorn machine patience may not seem newsworthy, but in the words of Smith: "Knowing you've helped someone today, that is the reward, one person, two people, doesn't matter, you did a good job."

If you want to share your own Wrenshall-specific story, let me know. Call 218-310-4703 or email [email protected]