Beginning
in early March, the cafeteriaıs atmosphere at lunchtime changed. The humdrum act of tossing your lunch into
the trashcan has been replaced with a second glance to make sure your eyes
arenıt playing tricks on you. Is
that a boy wheeling the trashcan
around?
The
Marian janitorial staff has added four new members. The addition of these new members has created quite a stir
in the once all-girls Marian community.
Just
because this is an all-girls school doesnıt mean the sight of boys makes us
woozy. The initial reaction from
most girls was one of shock and bewilderment. ³I thought it was funny because
they looked like high school students and itıs an all-girls school,² said
freshman Kayla Sorensen.
Itıs
not every day four boys walk into a school of 700 girls. Of course there were the unavoidable
comments like ³Heıs hot!² and ³Do you think heıll go to prom with me?² But most students wondered who they
were, why they were here, and where they came from.
The
four boys, all students at UNO, come to Marian every day to do the standard
janitorial jobs. They arrive at
Marian during lunch to help with cleanup, and stay until about 4:30 p.m. doing
other cleaning jobs around the school.
³Our goal is to keep the soap and toilet paper filled,² said Sam Troia,
head janitor.
So,
how did they come across a job at a private, all-girls Catholic high school?
The
original janitorial staff consisted of Sam and his brother, Joe, who lived in
Louisiana. Joeıs wife, however,
got pregnant and Joe decided to stay home to help take care of the new baby. Sam knew he would need more
assistance. ³I wanted to make sure
we got the school done. If I have
more help, we get more done faster, and everyoneıs happier,² said Sam.
Joe,
the first of the new janitors, heard of the job in November of 2003 from his
uncle, whom we all know as freshmen religion teacher Mr. Greg Golka, and started
right away. A few months later in
February, Andy, a pharmacy major at UNO and Samıs second cousin, came to Samıs
wife, a pharmacist, looking for a job.
Sam hired Andy to help him out at Marian. Andy then told his roommates, Jake and Andy.
So
why did they take these jobs as janitors?
The boys said they chose Marian because of good pay and great hours.
Of
course these boys were hired with reluctance from Head of School Miss Elizabeth
Kish because she didnıt want the girls distracted by the boys, who have strict
guidelines about their interactions with students. But the all-girl factor wasnıt a curveball for Jake and
Andy; it was what they expected.
³The girls have been really mature about it. Itıs not a big deal,² said Jake.
So
donıt be taken aback if you see any other guy besides Schad walking down the
hall. Theyıre just here to do
their job.