Warm interactions with students help receptionist feel at home

Steph Mangold

As students walk into the student development office the first thing they see is the smile on Patti Snyder’s face. There are always students sitting on the chairs by Snyder’s desk just talking. Snyder gives the office a casual and homey feel when students are there. Everything is organized and under control.

As students observe Snyder’s desk they will find it full of toys, candy and if students look closely they will see the pet fish on the desk behind Snyder, which is named Petey. All of these items give students an insight to Snyder’s fun and pleasant personality.

Snyder is the receptionist for Student Life, which means she handles calls that come in for residence life and student activities. Snyder does not necessarily have to deal with the calls that come in regarding housing. Snyder said, “I try and help if I know the information the person is requesting.” However, it is more of Snyder’s job to direct these people who are calling Cabrini to the right department.

Before Snyder started working at Cabrini in March of 2001, she was a stay-at-home mom to her three children. The decision to come to Cabrini was not necessarily a hard one. Snyder said, “When my kids went back to school it was time to go back to work.”

Snyder’s three children, who are now between the ages of 16 and 14, keep her quite busy. Snyder said, “My free time consists of taking one to this practice and another to a different practice.”

Being a receptionist for student life is a perfect job fit for Snyder who is known for her great personality. Snyder has no regrets what-so-ever about the decision she made to come to Cabrini. Snyder said there are no bad aspects of her job and that the best part of her job is the interaction she gets to have everyday with the students here at Cabrini.

It is the nice students that really keep Snyder here at Cabrini. Snyder said, “There are not many jobs where people get a hug everyday.” The interaction between Snyder and the students is always a pleasant one and it is this aspect of Snyder’s job that makes what she does enjoyable.

Posted to the web by Stephanie Mangold