Getting to know...Cathy and Sheila
It’s called Al Fresco Dining at Player’s Corner, but without Cathy Young and Sheila Carr, this new addition to the Wofford campus would be just another café.
Cathy provides one of the friendliest faces Wofford students see every day. She gives them service with a smile and always has time to hear them talk about their lives. Sheila, meanwhile, is the catering director who creates the menu and does everything behind the scenes.
In nine years, Cathy (left in picture at left) has worked the salad bar, the omelet station and the main cafeteria. In that same span, Sheila (right) says she does “a bit of this and a bit of that…catering can take me anywhere from a coffee break to a tailgate party to a dinner at the president’s home.”
The Al Fresco Dining was created as a more serene mid-day alternative for the students.
“We were quite busy upstairs at lunch,” says Sheila. “We thought this would be an ideal way to serve people who wanted that quieter lunch.”
The café, nestled on the back side of Burwell Building and facing the Milliken Science Building, has several tables with large umbrellas. Students can eat outdoors and enjoy the beauty of the Wofford Campus.
Cathy helps put them in the right frame of mind.
“I ask them how their day is going,” she says. “They tell me if they have a big exam and if so I wish them luck. I ask them if they’re going to the game. They ask me about my grandbabies. They’re like my children. I’m like the little old lady who lived in the shoe.”
Sheila watches with amazement sometimes.
“Cathy has become quite an icon here on campus,” she says. “The thing about her is she remembers everyone’s name. Just yesterday I worked with her and we saw 50-60 students and she answered every one of them by name. That is awesome.”
According to Cathy, the recipe for a good memory includes several tablespoons of care and concern. There is no substitute.
“I’ve seen so many sets of kids come through and graduate,” she says. “I get very close to them. I just love them. If I can go the distance for them, I will.”
“We all try to involve ourselves a little in the student’s lives because we see them for four years,” adds Sheila. “When you put that personal touch on your service it means everything to these kids...for them to be able to say, ‘I’ve had a hard day today, Cathy’ and have someone to listen to their problems.”
And the food isn’t bad, either.