Always on the Lookout A glimpse into the life of campus supervisor Dorene McClung ARTICLE BY DAHLIA PAUL • PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY AMANDA REBOREDO • DESIGN BY TYLER YUEN
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orn and raised in California, Dorene McClung graduated from the University of San Francisco. Some of her hobbies include baking and cooking, which she enjoys a lot during the holidays, especially during Christmas and Thanksgiving. In the future, one of her goals is to travel domestically in the United States by RV. “I just would like to get a better scope of the United States,” McClung said. “I [would] just like to see all the things that the United States has to offer that I’ve heard about all my life.” McClung started working at a tuxedo rental when she was 16 years old, and over the years she has worked in fields such as human resources, event planning, marketing for the high tech industry and pharmacy technology. “I was a stay-at-home mom for many years by choice,” McClung said. “My husband and I made that decision before we had children that we wanted to raise our children ourselves. So by choice, we decided as a married couple that if we were going to have kids, one of us to kind of [decided to] stay home and so I stayed home.” McClung has two daughters who both attended UPA. She learned of the job from students who were a part of her carpool and in a leadership group. They were starting to make the student store and asked McClung if she could buy products for them. “I was dropping off all the stuff that they asked me to get, and the students were in the energy bar by themselves,” McClung said. “I just volunteered. Basically, I just said, ‘Hey, it looks like
McClung waves outside the parking lot where she is normally stationed to supervise duing lunch.
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there’s no adult supervision. I would feel better if there was adult supervision.’” McClung has worked at UPA since 2009 and started out with the role of being a parent volunteer as well as helping manage and run the student store. Later on, there was an opening for the front office and she applied, starting out part-time at the front desk and later on moving to full-time. At the front desk, something that McClung looked forward to was opening time. “It was always so nice to come in every morning,” McClung said. “Turn on all the lights, unlock all the doors, get the place
“If I changed one person’s life or helped one person get through a rough spot, then that would be very rewarding.” - Dorene McClung ready for the day, and then start greeting people as they came in, welcoming [students], and trying to help students get what they needed to have their day be a success.” After UPA came back from distance learning in 2020, McClung noticed changes at the front desk, one of which includes the glass barriers which she felt were important but made interaction with students and parents more difficult. So in January 2022, McClung changed roles at UPA from the attendance clerk to a campus supervisor. “When last semester started, I noticed a lot of different things and one thing that really bothered me personally was that I didn’t feel like I was fulfilling my obligation to the school in a way that I had prior to last semester,” McClung said. “[As a supervisor,] I’m providing a better service by doing a better job.” Her transition from working at the front desk to supervising was not complicated for her due to the help from training and support from the other supervisors. “I really like being a campus supervisor,” McClung said. “I’ve been really pleased with the change. Working the front desk changed a lot over the years as most things do. As a supervisor, student interaction is something that McClung enjoys. “Just to all the students being so appreciative like saying hello to me and when I hold the door open they always say thank you and if I say good morning they say good morning,” McClung said. “Just the kindness that I hope that I showed them and the kindness that they definitely show me.”
