W y n d e
Stories by John Glorioso
Wynde Fitts is not just the director of USM’s First Year Experience office. She is also a mother, teacher, counselor, mentor and friend. Her passion for serving others combined with the joy she gets from seeing others succeed allow her to leave every student she encounters feeling important. The close relationships Fitts forms with those she meets stem from the time and attention she willingly gives of herself. As a graduate student working in the First Year Experience office, Ronnie Hebert has worked with Fitts and benefited from her selflessness. “Wynde has a willingness to invest in each and every person she interacts with. Even when she is slammed with work she always makes time for people and really listens,”
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Hebert said. As a child Fitts knew she wanted to work in a field that allowed her to be around people. “I didn’t want to be a princess or anything like that. I just wanted to be grown up,” said Fitts. Being the youngest of four children always gave Fitts someone to look up to, including her mother who she says was the most influential person in her early life. “My mother took me everywhere. She treated me as if there were no difference between us. I wanted to go everywhere she went and she always took me along,” said Fitts. The experiences she had as a child helped prepare her for life on her own, she said.
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