Saying Goodbye after Fifty Years

After nearly five decades of welcoming students and their parents to campus and mentoring generations of Student Admissions Program (SAP) volunteers, Office of Undergraduate Admission Senior Receptionist Linda Reams retired over the summer. “I thought I’d stay for maybe three years, but I fell in love with the kids,” Reams said. “They’ve all been my babies.” We spoke with Reams not long before her final day behind the desk, and she reflected on a long career, how her relationship with students and her faith evolved over the years, and what it takes to make a lasting impact on others.

What makes BC different from other places you’ve worked?

“Before coming to BC, I worked for an advertising agency. It was cutthroat. When you lost a client, everyone that worked on the account lost their job—people who had been there for twenty, thirty years, gone through no fault of their own. Corporate is for the money. Here, we’re for the people. I’ve worked with a great group over the years. Priests would stop by my desk to tell jokes. The staff are my friends. I’ve gone through a lot during my time here. Over the years, I’ve lost every member of my immediate family. It was my colleagues and students at BC who got me through it.”

How did you develop your special relationship with students?

“When they come in, they’re scared. They might have been the big fish in the little pond, and here everybody is brilliant. I’m their surrogate grandmother here. We promise their parents we’ll take care of them, and that made me more involved with the kids. I’ve left my personal email and cell phone number with students in SAP so they can call me day and night. I’ve driven kids home from the airport after Christmas. I’ve gotten phone calls: ‘It’s my first Thanksgiving in my off-campus apartment, and I burned the turkey!’ It’s not in my job description. But I’m proud of these kids and I love them.”

In terms of your relationship to faith, what led you to convert from Catholicism to Islam?

“I converted to Islam in 1990. My mother was as Catholic as they come. My father converted to Catholicism from Southern Baptist. I went to an all-girls Catholic school, where I questioned everything. I almost got thrown out! While working here, I talked to Father Skehan, who used to be the head of geology, and was the cousin of my ex-husband’s mother. I looked into many different religions. I started reading the Quran. A couple years before my father died, I told him, ‘Dad, I can’t walk into another Mass.’ He said, ‘I don’t care if the way you worship is hugging a tree. Find it where you find it.’ A lot of what we believe in Islam goes hand in hand with the Jesuits.”

What’s the key to making a great first impression?

“Kill them with kindness. I take that seriously, and you see it across the University. I had a parent come in today, and when I said, ‘Can I help you?’ they said, ‘Between here and the parking garage, three people have asked me that.’”

How do we form lasting connections with people?

“Open yourself up. Be compassionate. I tell the kids in SAP, ‘If a parent comes in stressed out and takes it out on you, remember that they’ve just dealt with Logan Airport or Boston traffic.’ Be vulnerable, too. If a colleague is suddenly unpleasant one day, I’ll ask, ‘Are you alright? Do you want to talk?’ You don’t know what people are going through. If somebody doesn’t want to talk, back off. But at least you’ve opened the conversation. They might come back later and say, ‘I’m sorry. I was having a really difficult day, and here’s why.’ Give people grace. There’s a lot of layers to every onion.” ◽