By Jackson Keenan, Assistant Editor
The University of Mary Hardin Baylor says goodbye to Sandra Rodriguez as she will retire after 27 years of helping both students and faculty as the secretary of the Humanities department.
After moving back to Texas in the late 90s and settling in Troy TX. Rodriguez found herself at UMHB during an interesting period in her life and especially her faith.
“When I started here, I was struggling with religion, faith, I was angry with god, and didn’t want to have nothing to do with him,” said Rodriguez.
That all changed when she started working at Heard Hall, which at the time held a high number of Christian faculty, students, and student workers. After seeing how they interacted with each other Rodiguez felt the presence of God within the community of UMHB.
“I started in this building, Heard Hall, and there was a lot of Christian faculty, students, and student workers. Just their demeanor, their morals, their integrity, I would witness them praying for students and with students praying for each other. I just felt the presence of God here,” Rodriguez said.
With that Rodriguez set off helping both student and faculty through daily task but also serving God and helping students find their way through varying levels of faith. An example of this being an atheist student who came to UMHB because it was the only university their parents would pay for.
“I said, just know that God loves you. So, throughout the years she came to me and said I just want to thank you for never giving up on me and for not pushing your religion on me, but just so you know, I gave my life to God last night,” Rodrigu.
ez said.
Although Rodriguez has worked with many different faculties the thing that she will miss the most about UMHB is the students.
“I’m definitely going to miss the students a lot. It's a diverse population. There’s LGBTQ students here, there are atheist students here, there’s Wicca students here. But I think that we are here to plant a seed, not necessarily nurture that seed but we can plant seeds, and the rest is up to God,” Rodriguez said.
One word to describe retirement for Rodriguez is bittersweet and although she may have had issues with fait and religion coming into UMHB she will definitely be taking the love of God with her as she leaves.
“It’s bittersweet for me, because it’s a new chapter in my life opening up, but I am definitely taking the love of God with me, and that's something that I’ll never let go ever again,” said Rodriguez.
