Staff Answers: What are the most rewarding moments for you working at Hillcrest?

It’s no secret that working at Hillcrest is a challenging, yet deeply rewarding job. We are so fortunate to have a hardworking and dedicated team. Every day, our teachers, clinicians, direct care staff, administration and everyone in between come in with a positive attitude, ready to take on the day.

Today we hear from staff on what are the happiest or most rewarding moments working at Hillcrest.

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Cindy Konrad, Special Education Teacher at Brookside ITU
“I guess just the connections with the students. It’s pretty amazing to be thanked by a student for doing your job. It was just two days ago. At the end of the day, one of the students thanked me for the school day. Just that feeling that they see me and I see them. It’s a mutual appreciation. A lot of times it can be a struggle, but to have your teenage students thank you. That’s pretty amazing.

I just heard from a former student yesterday who wanted to check in and let me know how they’re doing. You have them for this brief moment and to have some kind of positive impact is pretty amazing.”

Lindsey Gaylord, Senior HR Specialist at the Administrative Offices
“I don’t know if it’s the happiest, but the most rewarding moment I’ve had. I was supporting a staff member who was out of work for a really long time. He was in the hospital. It was actually touch and go for a period of time, and I had maintained contact with his spouse. Checking in, seeing how he was doing, asking if there was anything we could do to help support their family. And I was on the phone with his spouse as she was going to the hospital to pick him up and he was being discharged. This makes me tear up. As he’s coming out, he realized that I was on the phone with her…”

Ashley Kellogg, Former Program Director at Highpoint, Current Director of Student Services

“There are a lot of really happy moments as a program director. I think some of the happiest moments are when we have a really tough kid who makes a significant amount of progress and then returns to the community. We’ve certainly had our fair share of kids who have really struggled upon admission. And we worked really hard and they worked really hard, and then they get to a lower level of care or back home and were successful.

I think probably my happiest moments as a program director can be summed up as when the kids are happy and the staff are happy. If those two groups of people aren’t happy, I’m not a happy program director.

One of the other things that I enjoy about being a program director is being able to do things at an operations level that positively impact the program. Since I’ve been the program director here, we’ve built a beautiful brand-new dorm that we opened in 2015. We’re in the midst of a large renovation to our school building. So a lot of proud and happy things.”

Eliyah Feek, Former Assistant Supervisor, Current Residential Coordinator at Hillcrest Center
“I think the happiest moments…So when I started, we had a kid, Eric, and he was really, really tough. He didn’t like to like sleep around people. His guard was always up. I think the happiest moment for me was he sat us down one day and took a nap next to us. So him letting his guard down and trusting us was definitely one of the best ones.”

Jolene Soules, Activities Assistant at Highpoint
“I had a lot of happy moments as a Sunday to Wednesday YDP. A lot of happy moments. But being in the activities position, I’ve gotten to see some of the brightest smiles…and the laughter, it’s just so pure. You know what I mean? I think that’s the best part for me to be able to create and see that. They’re genuinely just having a great time being a child.”

Denise Roller, Housekeeper at Brookside ITU

“I love seeing the kids when they’re happy. When they’re smiling or if they’re in a good mood, it puts me in a good mood. It really does. And I love to see them on the swings because when they swing, they’re singing.”