When I asked Mr. McDowell in the Housekeeping department for an interview, it was actually a little difficult to schedule a good time to catch up. I was unable to contact him through email, but I was fortunate to stop him in his tracks as I walked past him in the Community Center. When we did get the chance to meet, we conducted the interview in the school’s library - a nice quiet location for a genuinely busy person.
If you don’t know who Mr. McDowell is, I’m almost sure you’ve probably seen him walking in the halls and grounds of Lovett. For the past eight years, Mr. McDowell has been the backbone of Lovett-coordinated events and mail delivery.
Intrigued, I asked him what that job entails. “Events are like football games, for example. We set up all the functions and meetings for the games. If there’s tables, chairs, or anything outside of the stadium, we set that up.” In addition to football games, he sets up volleyball and basketball games - as well as Chapel services and other campus meetings. If you’ve ever been to one of these games (and chances are you have), you might be so distracted with school spirit that you overlook the fact that the scoreboard table is already set up and the chairs are already in position for sitting. However, those things are there thanks to Mr. McDowell.
“There’s always something going on, seven days a week,” Mr. McDowell said when I asked him about his work day.
I was particularly interested in the mail delivery part of his day. When I get home from school, there are two things I look forward to: my bed and a delivery package (hopefully) with my name on it. Whenever Amazon, FedEx, and UPS mail is delivered to Lovett’s physical plant, Mr. McDowell and his colleagues get to work on separating the packages. He then delivers them by hand or hand via moving dolly to the Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools.
I followed up by asking what he was doing before our interview. He paused and then said: “Packages.”
Mr. McDowell’s busy schedule extends even into the summer. Lovett hosts a host of summer camps, so during that two-and-a-half-month period, he’s “here doing the same thing.” He was, however, able to take three weeks off for vacation.
If he had more time off, Mr. McDowell said that he would do one of his hobbies. “I like to cook,” he said passionately. He does so on the weekends - mostly when he’s bored. He likes to cook fish, shrimp, crabs, and salmon, he said, adding emphasis on the crabs.
He’s actually somewhat of a chef. “I can go to a restaurant and if I eat something I like, then I’ll go home and play around with the flavors,” he said. “From the food I eat, I can pick up certain tastes and seasonings.” I guess you can call him Chef McDowell.
This year Mr. McDowell won the Peebles Award. He said, “It was quite a surprise!” The Peebles Award is an award presented to Lovett’s most deserving staff and faculty members.
As for what he’s looking forward to in the upcoming school year? Mr. McDowell is “pretty hopeful that things are going to open up a little bit more than we’ve had in the past.” Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic caused Lovett to make many changes to its typical school events and activities. “I think we’re going to be doing a lot more around campus,” he said.
At the close of our interview, I asked Mr. McDowell to compare his high school experience to the experience of high school students today. The number one difference, he said, is that “today, high schools offer more opportunities. There’s more out there now. I think kids have more choices, more freedom, and a greater ability to speak their minds.” He continued, “Back then, we weren’t allowed to do certain things - so when you do get the chance to better yourself, why not?”
Wise words from Mr. McDowell, who then headed off on Lovett business.
Original source can be found here.
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