Every day, American University students swipe in at the Terrace Dining Room to eat. Some come just once a day, and others swipe in for breakfast, lunch and dinner. TDR employees are the faces that greet each of them, and they give students a comforting feeling to see the same people each day, smiling and giving their best wishes for an enjoyable day.
For some TDR employees, AU provides not only a job, but also a social community and, in the case of Stephanie Dinkins, a college option for her daughter.
Dinkins has been a cashier at TDR since Oct. 26, 2004, and an employee of Bon App?tit for five years. She works five days a week and enjoys interacting with the students who eat at TDR for nearly every meal.
"They're like babies here," Dinkins said.
She took an opening at TDR after working at Georgetown Hall, a Georgetown University cafeteria for law students, most of whom lived off campus and were "mainly adults."
"I've been here only a short time, but the students are lovely," Dinkins said.
Dinkins also enjoys seeing her co-workers, and cites one good friend in particular: Sherian Holmes, a TDR employee.
"I saw her when I first came down these steps for an interview," Dinkins said. "She's been here longer, so she made my stay more welcome."
Dinkins and Holmes can be found working together often, tag-teaming the cash registers.
Dinkins has lived in the D.C. area throughout her life, and now lives in Maryland with her husband and 16-year-old daughter. She was married last October and went to Cancun, Mexico, for her honeymoon.
"I travel a lot," said Dinkins, who visited family in Atlanta over spring break in March.
On New Year's Eve, Dinkins took off with her husband and daughter to New York City, where she stood for hours to see the ball drop, arriving at around 5:00 p.m.
"I was all the way up in the front," Dinkins said.
Dinkins saw Lindsay Lohan, Snoop Dogg and other performers with her daughter, Shanian, who complained about the cold but enjoyed the music.
"I listen to a lot of old-school [music] ... and hip-hop, you know, because of my daughter," Dinkins said. "I took my daughter to see Nelly in October for her birthday, along with her girlfriends."
Shanian is a junior in high school and is now looking at colleges. She is enrolled in SAT-prep classes and is weighing her options. AU, along with Morgan State University in Baltimore, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore and the University of Virginia, made her top-10 list. Her mother wants her to take a look around AU.
"I want her to come [to AU]. ... Maybe we can get a tour, or a student to take her to their room," Dinkins said.
Dinkins isn't sure what school will be best for Shanian, but said she believes that AU, academically, would be an acceptable school.
"I wouldn't mind [it] because she would be close to home," Dinkins said.
Shanian spoke of living at home and commuting to Howard University, but her mother discouraged her from doing so because she believes it's important to have new experiences. Shanian, who is an only child, is apprehensive of what it will be like to live with someone else and worries whether or not she will be compatible with her roommate. She talks often with her mother about her future plans.
"I want her to do the things I didn't do," said Dinkins, who went to community college. "I want her to go beyond that."
Observing students in the cafeteria, she said she wonders, "Is this how [Shanian] is going to be?"
Dinkins works with a few AU students in TDR, including two seniors. Dinkins enjoys working with them and laughs to think that they've been working here longer than she has.
