I am blessed to be one of the few college students who have a job and love it. I work in The Office of Admissions at UAH and I absolutely love my job. People ask me all the time why I like it so much, but I can’t answer that with one short and sweet reason. Although, I do have a favorite reason to give and that is my boss.

Not often do you hear someone say that they love their boss and actually mean it, but if you walked up to any Student Ambassador and asked them how they felt about their boss I am 100% positive that every one of them would talk about how amazing she is.

Let me tell you a little bit about her. First of all, her name is not Mrs.Harris, Mrs.Vangie, or even Vangie. Her name is Mama. She loves all of her student workers enough to refer to us all as her kids when she is speaking to other people. Not just one or two of us, but all of us. She doesn’t have kids of her own just yet, but when she does, those children will be the luckiest kids alive. The way she loves us is mind-blowing. I can only imagine the love she would have for her own kids. I have never heard any person that knows Mama say anything negative about her. You always hear how kind, sweet, and big-hearted she is. She works so hard to make sure that everyone is as happy as possible. She loves and cares for people in a way that only she can.

She has a passion for UAH Admissions like few others. She cares so much about what people think about her when she has no need to. Now, these are only a few of the reasons why I love her. I could write so much but this article would be about 8 pages long.

I just want to say thank you for accepting me, from the moment I walked into the office for the first time, as one of your babies. Thank you for giving me “mama hugs” when you know I have had a bad week. Thank you for always understanding when I don’t have the patience to go to processing for the day or to give a tour. Thank you for bringing me your rain jacket so I don’t get wet on walking tours and letting me wear it home when it’s pouring rain so I won’t get wet walking the 200 feet to my car. Thank you for everything. I know I haven’t been a part of the family for very long but I am pretty sure that I speak for all your other kids when I say this, I could never repay you for everything you have done for me.

To prove that I am not the only one who feels this way, I asked a few fellow ambassadors to give me their thoughts on the subject. So here it goes.

Vangie is honestly the most accommodating boss anyone could ever imagine. That has to be one of my favorite things about her. - Dale TeGantavoort

I just want to thank Vangie for being her. Her personality and kind heart makes coming to work enjoyable and never dreaded. She always has an ear to listen to all my life problems and is willing to do anything for her student staff. She’s given our job such a family environment and that is what I love most about working for her and the Admissions Office. - Samantha Parks

I want to thank Vangie for always trusting me and having confidence in me. -Blake Hawley

I would like to thank Vangie for her kindness and love for all of us students in the office. She is a wonderful boss. She is very professional and very good at what she does. However, she loves her employees like they are her kids (which we kind of are) and she always wants what is best for us. She is willing to work as hard as she can to make sure that her “kids” grow and prosper. - Jacob Wintzell

So from me and all of your other babies in the office I want to say a few final thank you’s. Thank you for making it a joy to come into work everyday. Thank you for putting up with our sassy attitudes (shoutout to my Sammy). Thank you for never getting mad when we text you 3 hours before we are supposed to come to work and say that we can’t make it. Thank you for pushing us to succeed in every way possible in our lives, even if that means internships and leaving the nest for a while. Thank you for being the best boss/mama we could ever imagine. The office would be such a deep and dark place without you in it. There is not one person in this world who could fill your shoes. So never leave us, because none of us could function without you at this point.