July 25, 2010

A Friend's Crisis Leads a Onetime Student Janitor to a Research Job

A Friend's Crisis Leads a Onetime Student Janitor to a Research Job 1

Deke Cloyd, On the edge, LLC, for The Chronicle

Garrin Hertel held several manual-labor jobs before going back to college.

Enlarge Image
close A Friend's Crisis Leads a Onetime Student Janitor to a Research Job 1

Deke Cloyd, On the edge, LLC, for The Chronicle

Garrin Hertel held several manual-labor jobs before going back to college.

By Ilana Kowarski

As a custodian at Gonzaga University 11 years ago, Garrin T. Hertel enjoyed discussing history and philosophy with professors as he cleaned their offices.

He was both a full-time history student and a full-time janitor, and he frequently slept as little as three hours a night. Determined to support his family while earning a bachelor's degree, Mr. Hertel had a hectic schedule. "It was hard to juggle all that," he says, "but sometimes you have to face challenges to become who you were

Print Subscription

Digital Subscription

Already have an account? Log In Now.