“I was born and raised on a potato farm in Maine with my father and brother. Growing up, I worked on the farm every summer and spent my birthday breakfasts with my grandfather at a local diner every year. Immediately after high school, I moved to Vermont and met my husband shortly thereafter, who I have been with for 27 years. We now live in Stafford, Vermont with our two dogs, Benelli and Boone. After a series of jobs in the Upper Valley area, I landed a job working with Dartmouth Dining. For the first few years I worked very diligently at the main dining hall with many overtime shifts.
My father and grandfather instilled in me at an early age that it is our responsibility to work and contribute what we can to society, so I apply a strong work ethic to whatever I do. When it comes down to me versus life, I was taught to endure and win. I am told that I can be a very polarizing figure. However, I am proud that I am unapologetically myself and am confident with who I am. I was told at an early age that people would love me or hate me, but they would never forget me. I have come to the conclusion that others respect and embrace this part of me as well.
Currently, I help manage the Novack Café in the Dartmouth Library. My favorite thing about the job is the students I work with, or “the kids”, as I call them. In fact, one of my best friends is a Dartmouth alum. I view the Novack student workers as my children in a way. The students say that I am a “cool old person”, despite having worked there as long as some of them have been alive. I have such a strong fondness for Dartmouth, and love to collect “Big D” or lone pine stickers and memorabilia. Outside of work, I enjoy watching an assortment of reality TV shows like Big Brother, Survivor, and Jersey Shore, to name a few.”
– Erin Clark, Strafford, VT
