Middlebury Magazine

  • Recent Stories
  • Menu
    • Features
    • Pursuits
    • Q&A
    • Review
    • Old Chapel
    • Road Taken
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • How Did You Get Here Series
    • About
    • Advertising
    • Contact
    • Support
    • Writers’ Guidelines
  • Search

Midd Moment: Alone Together Podcasts

Alone Together, Ep. 7 with Jodie Keith and Jacque Bergevin, Essential Workers

In this episode, we hear from Jodie Keith and Jacque Bergevin, who have been working with custodial services to keep our Vermont campus safe and clean. Jodie and Jacque share what campus has been like since the students left: what it's like to schedule hourly sanitation of buildings, how every day feels like an empty Saturday morning, and that the infamous Middlebury squirrels have lost a bit of weight.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
Photography by Bob Handelman
June 1, 2020
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • Email icon

“The squirrels on this Middlebury College campus are looking really thin right now. They’re missing the college kids.”

—Jacque Bergevin

Laurie Patton:

You’re listening to Midd Moment. I’m Laurie Patton, president of Middlebury and professor of religion. In this special series, I’m checking in with our community to see how people are doing, so that we might get a better idea of what it’s like to be alone, together.

 

Today, I’m speaking with Jodie Keith and Jacque Bergevin.

Jodie Keith:

My name is Jodie Keith. I’ve been at Middlebury College for three years. I am the manager of custodial and support services and facilities.

Jacque Bergevin:

My name is Jacque Bergevin and I’ve been at custodial services for almost—this November will be 17 years.

Laurie Patton:

Welcome, Jodie and Jacque. It’s really wonderful to have you. I always start all of our podcasts with a basic check-in. So how have you both been doing?

Jacque Bergevin:

I’ve been keeping busy. We’ve been doing yard work here. I’ve done a flower bed. And then next week I’ve got to start on a garden. Normally I like talking to college kids this time of year, and I’ve been doing this for 16 years, talking to seniors and they’re like, they always ask me, how does an arts degree relate to the real world? How is that going to get me a job? And I always love those conversations.

Laurie Patton:

You’re missing those conversations. Jodie, what about you?

Jodie Keith:

It seems very odd to walk around campus a week before Commencement and not have any students here.

Laurie Patton:

Yeah. Tell me, are you working remotely, Jodie?

Jodie Keith:

No. I come into the office every day.

Laurie Patton:

Okay. And Jacque, same for you?

Jacque Bergevin:

Yeah. I come in for Thursday to Sunday. I come in for four days this week and then I’m off for eight days. Just trying to stay busy enough there so we make the COVID-19 pay, which was really nice of the College for doing that. I appreciate everything that the College has done for the employees here. And I really love that. I like the community of it. So it means a lot to people like me.

Laurie Patton:

Thank you for saying that. We share that perspective. You’ve been experiencing the Middlebury community for a while. Jodie, you’re newer to Middlebury. Where’d you come from before in your employment? And how does Middlebury strike you? Given what an intense community we are.

Jodie Keith:

Previous to this position I worked at Porter Hospital in environmental services. So it’s a little different atmosphere coming from a hospital setting to a college setting. Things actually—as far as the custodial piece is a little more laid back than what I was used to. I don’t think it will be anymore. I don’t think there are many other employers that do what Middlebury does for its employees, as far as supporting them financially through this process. The whole uncertainty of what’s going to happen.

Laurie Patton:

That’s so good to hear. It’s interesting that, because I’ve been spending so much time with Porter, we check in with Porter leadership every week and talk about how we need to coordinate what it’s going to look like in the future. And we know that custodial folks have been very involved in setting up our potential quarantine and isolation spaces, as well as the working well house that has gone really well. I think there are still a few people there and we know that custodial has been a big part of that. So we want to thank you for that. It’s fantastic. I was wondering if you could both share what the beginning of all this was like for you. When did you first start hearing about COVID-19? And if you can remember the moment when you found out that students would be leaving campus because of the pandemic.

Jodie Keith:

I first heard about COVID-19 on the news, when it was the outbreaks in China. And then kind of thought that this has happened before with the Avian flu and SARS and things. So, didn’t really think it would end up here like it has. And when I heard that students were leaving campus, that’s when I knew that things were really getting serious.

Jacque Bergevin:

I saw it on the news here—in China and—yeah, it started opening up my eyes that it was serious when the kids were leaving. Because I knew there that if we didn’t do something—I’m glad they made the decision. Because if you have a body of people together, it’s going to spread a lot more quickly.

Laurie Patton:

Did your experience of the campus also change? Like you’re doing a lot more custodial work for places that are more empty. So you’re probably experiencing the emptiness of the campus a lot.

Jacque Bergevin:

I’ve been checking bathrooms, disinfecting door handles. And then when I’m doing that there I’ve been doing extras, vacuum out chairs, doing light shades, garbage cans, just trying to do things there to keep busy because it’s always something to do. And there’s so much of it.

Laurie Patton:

You know, that door handle means something completely different than it did even two months ago.

Jacque Bergevin:

Yeah. As long as you wash your hands and you just do the proper hygiene. I told my kids, when they’re growing up, I says, you got to wash your hands, and being on a farm, you have to wash your hands.

Laurie Patton:

You kind of know that protocol, that there’s a line in a poem that I circulated about a month or so ago to the community about, we now know literally that—this is a paraphrase, it’s not the exact line—but we now know literally that we hold each other’s life in our hands. Right. And I think a farmer would know that, in a way that other people who aren’t familiar with the farm environment would have to learn through something like COVID. And Jodie, what about you in terms of thinking through different schedules and thinking about, that moment you found out, did you feel like all of the work that you would have to do would change?

Jodie Keith:

It was kind of gradually trying to make sure the students items were packed up, and it was inventoried so that we knew where things were. We consolidated them to a couple of rooms in each hall, in case the dorm did need to be used. But I oversee the mail center, which changed because we didn’t need everybody over there. There wasn’t a ton of mail coming in and the students packages, if they needed to be forwarded, trying to figure all that out. I also help with the event setups and oversee those for the facilities piece of it. So those stopped happening, obviously, and didn’t have that piece of my job anymore and haven’t for a little while. So it seems quite odd. We looked at what buildings were going to be occupied going forward, which spaces needed to be cleaned on a daily basis, and how they needed to be cleaned. So trying to get all those lists together about who wants to work, who wants to continue to work, and get them all some hours in, and fair rotation.

Laurie Patton:

My guess is you’re doing a lot more, Jodie, in scheduling differently.

Jodie Keith:

Yeah, we got through the first couple of weeks and then things started to change a little bit. And every day, we just adjust the schedule. And when the governor said, we need to be disinfecting occupied buildings three times a day, we added more staff for a schedule to do a disinfection later in the evening.

Laurie Patton:

Jacque, is disinfecting every hour part of your protocol as well?

Jacque Bergevin:

Yeah. Handrails, doorknobs, light switches, toilets, anything that anybody could touch, whether it’s a back of a chair, anything that has hand oils.

Laurie Patton:

What are the things that you would like people to know about your work? You hear people say things, like, the College is closed. I’m like, actually it’s not closed. It’s being taken care of and people are coming to work. And I think of you all in particular, and I’m wondering, are there things that you’d like folks to know about the work that you’re doing now?

Jacque Bergevin:

I don’t see a lot of people there. I saw one person today at the library.

Laurie Patton:

Right. And that must be such a new experience for you. Given how much traffic you saw before.

Jacque Bergevin:

Before they shut down the campus, I went to New Hampshire. I was going to go pick up my son and I went to a visiting center and three girls from Middlebury College pulled me aside and they said, “Hi,”—because I had my custodial jacket on and my hat—”Oh, we love you.” I love the conversations. I love it when they just, they’ll ambush me like that. And when they have the Reunions, hopefully I get to see them down the road there and ask them how everything’s going.

Laurie Patton:

Well, you will be seeing them at their own graduation. I have an anticipation that if we are open for graduation next year, we’ll be going from famine to feast again with so many people around. Jodie, what about you? What would you like people to know about what everyday life is like now?

Jodie Keith:

I mean, my routine pretty much has stayed the same. I get up and go to work Monday through Friday, as I always have. There’s just less staff here. It’s a lot quieter, just in the Service Building.

Laurie Patton:

Is there a particular moment or memory from this spring that you’d like to share that really speaks to you of what COVID-19 has been like at Middlebury?

Jacque Bergevin:

The squirrels on this Middlebury College campus are looking really thin right now. They’re missing the college kids. I tell ya, they’re looking a little thin.

Laurie Patton:

It’s so true. All right. Well, thin squirrels. That’s a really wonderful image. Jodie?

Jodie Keith:

Campus being quiet. Once in a while when you work a Saturday morning and it’s like—the campus is empty and it’s like that all the time now.

Laurie Patton:

I love that image. It feels like it’s always Saturday morning at Middlebury.

Jodie Keith:

Yeah. Commencement, Reunion, and Language Schools are always a pretty stressful time, really busy. So coming into that time of year and not having that work is really strange.

Laurie Patton:

Yeah. It’s a spring with thin squirrels, lots of Saturday mornings, and wondering where the work went.

Jacque Bergevin:

The calendar doesn’t have RTO on it. Crossed out for a couple of weeks there. It’s strange here, because schedules there that I have to go by with the College. And now it’s like, okay, I don’t know what we’re going to do for Language Schools this year. I hear that we’re doing remotely. So it’s going to be a different summer and a different schedule. I’m just hoping there that we can get back to a little bit of normalcy if we could.

Laurie Patton:

Well, you both should know we are doing everything we can to have some kind of normalcy in the fall. Obviously we’re going to have to follow the orders of the CDC and the state.

Jacque Bergevin:

We have a diverse community of Middlebury College students all over the globe.

Laurie Patton:

That’s right.

Jacque Bergevin:

And it’s just—it affects us all. If those numbers are bad in some states there, it may affect us in certain ways. And if people adhere to the rules and listen and try to be safe there, then we might just make it through it.

Laurie Patton:

For the past work that you’ve done, for the present environment, and also for the future work, we’re just really grateful for what you do for Middlebury. Every time I walk through the campus, I think about the work that you all do and just want to express my appreciation and how fun it was to talk to you this morning.

Jacque Bergevin:

I think, you’re a hoot. So I’d love to talk to you again.

Laurie Patton:

All right. Let’s do it.

SHOW NOTES

 Music credits:
  • Slimheart by Bitters via Blue Dot Sessions
  • SuzyB via Blue Dot Sessions

 

You can subscribe to Midd Moment: Alone Together at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify. We encourage you to do so today!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Recent Stories

Features

More Than a Game

In a critically acclaimed work of nonfiction, Abe Streep '04 introduces readers to the Arlee Warriors, a high school basketball team on a Native American reservation in Montana, where life's challenges are abundant.

By Alexander Wolff
Photograph by Devin Yalkin
October 21, 2022

Munya Munyati Has A Few Stories to Tell

Catching up with a young filmmaker who is rapidly making a name for himself at Vice.

By Mara Dolan
Film stills by Munya Munyati
September 16, 2022

Reverberations

A transcontinental move, a career discovered, a landmark speech studied and translated—and an identity reshaped.

By Clara Clymer, MA Translation '22
Illustration by Anna Gusella
April 2, 2022

The Road(s)

A little over a year ago, a writing student headed south to Florida for no other reason than J-Term was forced to go remote. She soon found herself reporting on an environmental justice battle that was roiling the state.

By Alexandra Burns '21.5
Illustrations by Yevgenia Nayberg
March 2, 2022

Dispatches

The Repatriation

The Leopard Head Hip Ornament returns to Africa.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Courtesy Middlebury Museum of Art
February 16, 2023

Adventures in Filmmaking

Two professors and an alum have embarked on a journey to take a screenplay from its creation to the end product of a full-length feature film.

By Sara Thurber Marshall
Still Photograph from The Swim Lesson Proof of Concept
February 14, 2023

A Night Out

For one evening in December, Atwater dining hall hosted a student-dining experience unlike any other.

By Caroline Crawford
Photographs by Paul Dahm
January 20, 2023

Finding His Way

What happens when your identity is stolen—not by another person but by your own body?

By Sara Thurber Marshall
December 15, 2022

A Natural Selection

For more than a quarter century, Stephen Trombulak— now an emeritus professor of biology and environmental studies—guided students in avian research on a parcel of College land hard by Otter Creek. This preserved area now bears his name.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Photography by Paul Dahm
November 18, 2022

The Utterly Fascinating Life of Howie McCausland

He saves lives. He brought the Internet to Middlebury. He has a degree in astrophysics. And he loves to fish. Yes, this is a true story.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Illustration by John S. Dykes
September 16, 2022

It’s a New Day at the Museum of Art

Reimagining what an art museum can and should be.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Art courtesy of the Middlebury College Museum of Art
June 30, 2022

First Aid

Their projects span the globe—from Kenya to Haiti to the United States. As the 2021-22 academic year came to a close, a cohort of students gathered to discuss what having a social impact really means.

By Sara Thurber Marshall
Illustration by Brian Stauffer
June 28, 2022

The Case of the Purloined Onions

Onions have been disappearing from Middlebury's garden. Now, a team of undergraduate sleuths are honing in on a lineup of suspects.

By Andrew Cassel
Illustration by Naomi Ann Clarke
June 21, 2022
View All

Pursuits

Public Defender

On becoming one of the country's foremost cybersecurity experts.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Illustration by Neil Webb
April 14, 2022

Q&A

The Making of a Teacher

Hebrew Professor Michal Strier reflects on her life an education—in Israel and the States—a journey that led the Language School instructor to the undergraduate College for the first time this year.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Photograph by Paul Dahm
May 19, 2022

Editor’s Note

A Brilliant Fogg

Saying goodbye to a dear colleague and friend.

By Matt Jennings
Illustration by Jody Hewgill
February 25, 2020

Old Chapel

Making Democracy Real

An Update on Our Conflict Transformation Initiative

By Laurie L. Patton
Illustration by Montse Bernal
January 20, 2023

Road Taken

What to Wear Now

Through accrued life experiences, a writer discovers that a common question has become a statement of identity.

By Samantha Hubbard Shanley ’99
Illustration by Naomi Clarke
March 11, 2021

Quotation

A summer immersed in a language can do wonders, as veterans of Middlebury College’s famous language-learning program can attest. The lockdown is clearly going to amount to the equivalent of about two summers, and there are mini-Middleburys happening in millions of houses worldwide.”

—John McWhorter, writing “The Coronavirus Generation Will Use Language Differently” in the Atlantic.

Podcasts

Introducing Midd Moment: Season 3

Coming this spring, season three of Midd Moment.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
March 31, 2023

Alone Together, Ep. 9 with Jessica St. Clair ’98 and Dan O’Brien ’96

Dan O'Brien ’96, a playwright and poet, and Jessica St. Clair ’98, a comedian and writer, join President Patton for our final check in with the community during COVID-19 self-isolation. Dan and Jessica are a true power couple in the arts that met in a Middlebury improv group. They discuss Dan's magazine essay "Life Shrinks: Lessons from Chemo Quarantine," how reopening the country feels a lot like remission, and how their art is evolving to reflect the pandemic.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
June 15, 2020

Alone Together, Ep. 8 with Dick Clay, Covid-19 Survivor

In this episode, Dick Clay, a student at the Bread Loaf School of English, shares his story of recovering from COVID-19. Dick discusses when the seriousness of the virus hit him, the "wilderness path to recovery," and how he will process this experience through writing.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
June 8, 2020

Review

Heart and Soul(s)

Funny and touching, this story centers on a small town and the escapades of its inhabitants—both living and dead.

By Sara Thurber Marshall
Illustration by Miki Lowe
March 29, 2023

How Did You Get Here?

Megan Job

By Alexandra Burns '21
February 15, 2021

Leif Taranta

By Alexandra Burns '21
February 15, 2021

Mikayla Haefele

By Alexandra Burns '21
February 15, 2021

Videos

Pomp and Unusual Circumstances

As viewed from above.

By Chris Spencer
June 1, 2021

Davis the Owl Returns Home

Having recovered from life-threatening injuries, a beautiful winged creature is released to its natural habitat.

By Andrew Cassell
April 22, 2021

In the Blink of an Eye

Gone in less than a minute—the middle of June 2019 to the middle of June 2020, as viewed from the rooftop of the Mittelman Observatory.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
Video by Jonathan Kemp/Mittelman Observatory
June 10, 2020
Middlebury College
  • Alumni
  • Newsroom
  • Contact Us
  • icon-instagram

The views presented are not necessarily those of the editors or the official policies of the College.

© 2023 Middlebury College Publications.