Pontefract Article
by Su
It is kind of hard to meet Mr.Guertin because of my tight schedule. However, we found a time to meet at last. From the lodge, I welcome him in. My first impression of him was a man who, partly made weary by the ruthless flow of time, but from his face I can know that he is a very friendly and kind-hearted person.
We started the interview with some casual conversations. I was astonished by the fact that after just five minutes of talking, although we did not even know each other’s face and have never talked before, we all communicated very naturally, like we have been close for a long time. I took a picture of him, and we began the interview. I feared that I will create an awkward atmosphere of emotionless talking and answering because of my lack of experience in interviewing, but I did not have to look at my prepared question most of the time because as the conversation flows, questions somehow brought themselves up.
Mr. Charles Guertin has been working at Pomfret as a supervisor for the facility department for nearly 12 years. That is such a long time and it shows that he loves his work and is very dedicated to it.
He lives in Plainfield, Connecticut, just about 20 minutes from Pomfret School with his wife Gayle. He told me that when he saw my email telling him that he was voted to have an interview for this edition of Pontefract, he told himself : “Why not?” and was kind of excited because he is willing to help students as much as he can.
He begins his ordinary days by waking up at 5:00 followed with a cup of hot coffee and then he drives to work. When he arrives at Pomfret at about 6:30, the first thing he do is checking his email to see if anyone has emailed him late at night or not. Then, Mr. Charles Guertin go to the front office to take copied papers and to check if the copy machine is working fine or not (I myself once experienced both of the copy machines not working and it was chaotic, a lot of things have to delay).
From there on, he goes around and check the buildings, and the dorms to see if anything needs repairing. If there is a meeting that day, he and his team would set up the room (the lodge for example) for that meeting and clean it up when the meeting is done. “There is no fixed or specific schedule for me, whenever problems with the school’s facility arise, like a light bulb or a fan not working, we fix it”.
However, he still has an “Event Meeting” every Thursday morning, when he will be noticed in advance of any meeting will occur for the next week. One thing probably some of the new students do not know is that, his team set up the dining hall on Tuesdays and Thursdays for Sitdown lunches. He continues to get busy for the rest of the morning until 10 o’clock, when he take a break and has lunch.
After lunch, he catches up with his work and leave for home at 4:30. Being in charge of all the facilities in the school, including the dorms’ is a burdensome responsibility that not anyone can handle. “Fortunately, I never get caught up by my work”, he said, “thanks to my wonderful, hardworking team who always help me. Without them, I can never handle the amount of work”.
After all the hard work, he relax by mowing the lawn and take care of the tomatoes that he and his wife have grown and usually sleep at 9:00 to prepare for the early work the next days. On the weekends, he has a lot of hobbies to enjoy his free time like going bass fishing, going to the beach or travelling to various places. He added: “I especially love to eat out with my wife, Gayle”, I guess because it is the time when the family can get together after tiring days of working.
The reason why he loves to work at Pomfret, as he said, is that he loves the people here. “The people around here is very friendly, I love to work with them everyday”, he said. More importantly, he simply loves to help students, to make their life at Pomfret become easier and therefore happier. In addition, he loves the aesthetic scenery at Pomfret, with all the trees, the endless fields of grass, the bright, warm sunshine in the chilly weather. All of the above makes him feel happy, makes his life become more meaningful and gives him the motivation to do his work everyday.
The final words he wants to share with all the readers of the Pontefract is that : “Be sure to enjoy life to the fullest because life is too short and it goes too fast”. He told me: “ Now you are fifteen, if you do not take and try all the chances and opportunities of life, you are gonna wake up one day and realized that you are twenty five very soon, you will probably regret the ten years that you have wasted”.
His message for all the readers in general and for the students at Pomfret school in particular is to never afraid of changes, always try new things and experience it. You should always be ready to think out of the box and step out of your comfort zone.
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