Robin Summers, a facilities staff member at Iona College, has found her interaction with students to be one of the most rewarding parts of her job.

“Just to be a part of their life, to encourage them, to tell them you can, that makes me feel really good,” said Summers.

Summers found herself working at Iona through her pastor, who worked at the college as well. She marked her fourth year of working at Iona on Aug. 8, 2015.

“I feel really wonderful,” Summers said. “When I got here at Iona and I began to meet the students, I knew I was where I was supposed to have been.”

Summers explained that although her job at Iona is different from ones she’s had in the past, she feels she’s gotten more out of working here than anywhere else.

For her, there is so much more to the job she does than keeping Rice Hall clean; she also does it for the students.

“Sometimes people get caught up in what they do, and titles, and that’s not [me],” Summers said.

Summers graduated cum laude from Wells College with a degree in economics.

She first began writing in college where she made it her business that every semester she would take one English course.

“It was easy for me,” Summers said. “When I hear the horror stories of other people who just turn away from writing, none of that stuff happened to me.”

Through her writing, she found herself entering a competition with a friend of hers, which they won a blue ribbon for in mixed media. From here, Summers took her talent and channeled it into painting, and went on to continue, and win, more art contests.

Her passion for the arts has carried into her adult life and on the weekends she spends time working on two of her books: one is about church and the other is a story dedicated to her late husband.

“I’m the voice for the issues people don’t want to talk about,” Summers said.

With her degree she went on to work a variety of jobs including a sports director, a news assistant at the Wall Street Journal and a bonds clerk at the New York Times.

Summers eventually decided to leave her job at the New York Times to care for her sick mother. Nine months after making this decision, she entered back into the workforce in 2010.

While Summers takes her job seriously, she tries to always have time for a student in need. She makes it a point to talk to parents as she meets them when they’re moving their children in and let them know she’s always looking out for their kids. Whether a student is asking her to pray for them or just needs someone who will listen, Summers is there for them.

“I want the students to know it’s okay to stumble,” Summers said. “Just get up.”