Students buzz around as the Clark Student Center comes to life. They occupy the clean tables and march on the spotless floors. Students having lunch, playing board games, doing homework, socializing. It is Velia Lozano’s job as lead custodian to ensure the south wing to be neat for the use of students. She is just a regular cleaning lady, but she has helped many students and also participates in the community.

Lozano plans to donate a home-cooked dish to “Top Chef,” a Latin/Hispanic cooking competition where the winner gets a prize. She said it would be her fourth year donating food.

“I bring my dish to the event, but I tell Mario and his wife (the organizers of the event) to not enter it into the contest. I only do it to support the students,” she said.

“When they gave me the recognition ‘For Member of the Year’ it was very emotional because I never thought the students would vote for me,” Lozano said.

She said it was also very emotional to receive the “You Make a Difference” because one of the reasons for the award was for helping Shayla Owens, management senior and Student Government Association president at the time, with her Spanish class.

Lozano’s first attempt to enter the United States was when she was 16 years old. She said she was caught by immigration at the airport in El Paso, Texas. Lozano later traveled from Tijuana, Mexico to the United States with a tourist visa about 12 years ago in 2005. She fixed her permanent status three months later and was then able to work. She stayed in Fort Worth, Texas for about a year before her husband was offered a better job in Wichita Falls. Lozano first started working at MSU in 2014.

She said her greatest challenge was the language barrier. Lozano’s only language was Spanish.

“I was asked to speak only English,” she said.

The lead custodian at the time felt that she would talk bad about him in Spanish and he wouldn’t be able to understand. This made Lozano sad because she wasn’t able to communicate.

She was ready to transfer to a different building. Cammie Dean, director of student development and orientation, would practice her own Spanish with Lozano. Lozano told her she thought she had to work in a different building and Dean asked her “Why?” Lozano explained that students are used to coming up to her wanting to practice their Spanish or simply talk to her.

“How was I supposed to tell the students they didn’t want me to speak in Spanish?”

Dean was upset with the news and took action.

“She printed a big round sticker that read ‘Yo Hablo Español’ and she wore it around,” Lozano said.

The whole incident was resolved when reported and Lozano was apologized to.

She realized she had to learn English when she experienced interacting with the authorities during her first year. A female student didn’t want to leave the computer lab and it was time for Lozano to close. She said she had to call the cops.

“I struggled for like an hour because I was having trouble communicating with the police.”

Because of this, she took a semester of English class.

“Everyday I learn something new. I’m never going to stop being an apprentice.” She was never properly educated. Like most Mexicans of the older decades, she didn’t have the opportunity to get a proper education. “I wasn’t allowed to go to school because I didn’t have any shoes.” Lozano said she would look through the classroom’s window and try to copy the board.

She said she feels proud to be working for the university. One of her worse experiences was when she had first started working at MSU, she was working her last shifts of her previous job at the school district office. She would finish her first shift and carry on to her next eight-hour shift. Without her boss informing her, she had no idea when to take her breaks.

“I don’t wish it on anyone,” Lozano said, “It was the worst thing ever. I would clean the table on my knees because I was so tired.”

It took a while for her to adjust to the new atmosphere. She soon got the hang of things and was taking her proper breaks.

“Not just anyone works at Midwestern. You have to have an excellent record because the workers work around the students.”

“I like working with students because I feel as if they were my children. I clean the restrooms in my area as if for my own children.”

“I feel a beautiful satisfaction when I’m cleaning the girls’ restroom and a student walks in and they say ‘Thank you Velia it smells really good here’, ‘Thank you Velia I love to come to this restroom’, or just ‘Thank you Velia’. The fact that they notice I am doing my job is nice,” Lozano said. “I don’t just do it for the check. Do I need the check? Yes, certainly. But I do it with love. For you all, because you don’t have your mother here with you.”

When she isn’t working she spends her time cooking.

“If I’m not working I’m thinking about what I could cook to take to the girls. If it’s cold then a soup, maybe some tacos, stuff like that.”

She creates good friendships with students. She said she has no idea why they go to her for advice, but she is willing to help.

Lozano said one time a female student talked to her about being stressed because she thought she was pregnant and she just needed someone to talk to. She said another student introduced himself to her and informed her he had heard about her from orientation. Lozano said he talked to her about being scared to come out to his parents.

“I’m not a psychologist, but I said, ‘You can do it. Go ahead.’”

She said he told his parents and she felt proud because she was able to witness them together as a family after.

She said her job is interesting because she gets to communicate with a diverse group of students from different countries who are often homesick.

“When the semester starts I find many sad faces. When I see one I try to make them feel better by greeting them with a smile and asking how they are. I tell them to not worry everything will be fine.”

She said if anyone needs help just ask her and she’ll try to point them to the right people. She also motivates and encourages students.

“Don’t say you’re going to fail an exam. There are only intelligent people here. You are very intelligent because you already got into MSU. Go take an hour nap. You already know what to do. Dry your eyes. Drink a soda or eat some chocolate. Hurry, you can do it,” Lozano said.

She said she thinks students come to her because they trust her.

“If you need something, if you need help I am here.”