College Grad Spotlights 'Unsung' Campus Workers

People walk through facilities, often without ever noticing the janitor cleaning the floor or the maintenance worker disposing of trash. But one Georgetown University student did and made it his goal to shine light on these “Unsung Heroes.”

According to reports from USA Today, Febin Bellamy, a 2017 Georgetown graduate, launched the Unsung Heroes program  as a way to promote awareness of the workers who often go unnoticed on campuses across the country.

“No one really knows their stories, and if you don’t know someone’s story, it’s easy for them to be invisible and to go under the radar,” Bellamy said of why he launched the program. “So it’s our role to recognize these folks and put them on the spotlight.”

The idea began with one worker: Oneil Batchelor, a maintenance worker at Georgetown who used to clean late into the night as Bellamy settled into a room for a study session.

Batchelor had a dream of one day owning his own catering business. Bellamy set out to show students that many campus workers had stories like this to tell.

Bellamy began filming interviews with workers and sharing them publicly in April 2016. Unsung Heroes subsequently launched crowdfunding campaigns to help make their dreams come true.

Awareness of the program spread quickly. The organization will cover 30 colleges and five high schools across the country this fall. And as many as 40 additional schools have reached out with interest in launching their own Unsung Heroes chapters.

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