Ellen Scheffler
As students pass through Grill, staff member Ellen Scheffler smiles and spreads a cheerful message: “Have a wonderful day!” Indeed, Scheffler’s charm and joy usually receives a smile in return, as it helps improve so many Exonians’ days.
Amidst a busy day of work and classes, one of the most common places to stop and relax is Grill. Besides being able to catch up with friends or grab something to eat, Grill provides students a place to talk to and spend time with its lovely staff. Most students know Scheffler as the incredibly kind Grill lady—a title she lives up to—but she is so much more. Scheffler currently works behind the counter, cleans up the eating area and keeps food stocked up. “I’m very happy here; it’s a very good team. It’s a really good working environment,” she said of her job.
“Sometimes [Scheffler] tells me ‘I’m glad you’re smiling,’ and then some days if I’m not she’ll go ‘Aren’t you the smiling boy? Why aren’t you smiling? There are so many reasons to smile today!’”
Sheffler started working on campus in April 2017. Since then, she has not only enjoyed her work, but never fails to spread that enjoyment to her customers and coworkers. She moved to Exeter in January of last year after moving from China to America in 1998. Before working at Exeter, Scheffler had only worked at colleges with older students and admitted that she thought this job would prove to be challenging due to her lack of experience with high school students. Nevertheless, Scheffler was pleasantly surprised by her initial encounters with Exonians. “This has actually been much better than I ever thought,” she said. “You guys are awesome kids, such good kids, and I’m really proud of all you guys.”
Scheffler lives with her husband and nine-year-old son. “The commute is very nice, I love it. There is never any traffic at all,” Sheffler said. Each morning, it takes her about 20 to 25 minutes to get to the school. At home, Scheffler spends her time gardening with her family. She began gardening about ten years ago after moving out of a city-setting for the first time in her life, and it has since become one of her favorite pastimes.
This year, Scheffler and her family are making their garden even bigger. “I love to grow tulips. And sunflowers, too. We grow sunflowers because my son told me that sunflowers can absorb radiation, so we said, ‘let’s grow something that helps the environment a little bit.’” Scheffler’s garden is indeed a source of pride, and she is more than happy to send pictures of her lush garden to anybody interested.
In the near future, Scheffler will transition to work in Elm Street Dining Hall in order to spend more time with her family. “My son is kind of young, and here we work until ten o’clock. It is a little bit late for me, and if I am not home he won’t go to sleep.” Scheffler has already begun taking shifts in Elm.
When asked what her favorite aspect of her current job is, Scheffler did not hesitate to say that it is being around the students. “I like to see them with their big smiles. Their smiles always make my day. When I get home, I’m still thinking about the kids’ big smiles in my mind,” she said.
When speaking to other students, many of whom have a close, friendly relationship with Scheffler, they said that Scheffler is in fact one of the reasons that they smile. “I really appreciate Ellen’s kindness and joy she brings to her work,” said senior Winslow MacDonald. “She is always smiling and courteous—and seeing her in Grill or Elm brightens my day.”
Lower Audrey Vanderslice, who often shares conversations with Scheffler in Chinese, reflected that sometimes “you walk into Grill and you have had a bad day and she’s always there asking you how you are doing and stuff like that. And then I’ll talk in Chinese again and it just makes me feel really comfortable and happy.”
According to senior Cody Nunn, Scheffler never fails to remind him that there is something to be happy about. “Sometimes [Scheffler] tells me ‘I’m glad you’re smiling,’ and then some days if I’m not she’ll go ‘Aren’t you the smiling boy? Why aren’t you smiling? There are so many reasons to smile today!’”
Many students are grateful for her presence on campus and feel that people like Scheffler are very important. “Exeter can, as people always say, be a stressful place,” MacDonald said. “Oftentimes people like to focus only on the negative experiences in their days, but if you open yourself up to joyful people like Ellen, it can change your mindset and brighten your day.”
Vanderslice agreed. “I think that anyone on campus who fosters that kind of positive energy is really important to have because it’s really the small things that make people happy
if they are having a bad day,” she said. “It’s very much how I want to be in life because she is so happy and content with what she does… she finds ways to be happy all the time,” Nunn said.
Sheffler was very humbled by the prospect of being The Exonian Staff of the Week. “I really appreciate this. I’m just a regular person. I do the same things as my coworkers. I can’t believe you guys picked me. Everybody is good like me; actually I learned from them,” Sheffler said with a smile. “Thank you. You kids, you really are gifts to me. I love to see you guys with your big, big, beautiful smiles. It makes me so happy, and I have really enjoyed working here.”