Meet the people who make Safer Badgers work, part 2
It’s a big job to help keep campus safe through the pandemic.
As part of UW–Madison’s Safer Badgers effort, people are needed to answer questions over phone and email, staff the testing sites, support the app, manage building access and more.
Meet some of the people who make this effort work and help keep our whole campus community safe.
Cameron, health technician at testing sites
When classes first went remote last spring, Cameron moved back home to Elkhorn and her family got a puppy — a yellow Labrador named Mando. And while Mando adorably made quarantine a lot more exciting — playing fetch and interrupting Zoom lectures — he just isn’t much for conversation.
And Cameron — a human development and family studies junior on the pre-physician assistant track — really misses meeting new people.
That’s one reason she enjoys being a health technician at UW–Madison’s COVID-19 testing sites, where she helps students, faculty and staff understand the new testing measures and complete their tests.
“I love being able to talk to so many people,” Cameron says. “With COVID, I do not get as much social interaction as I’m used to, so it’s so nice to be able to get a sense of it at work.”
Cameron loves running and working out, and she looks forward to being able to pack Camp Randall or enjoy concerts again — like that amazing Illenium show she and her friends saw at the Sylvee, a few months before Madison’s music venues shut down. Until then, Cameron is glad to help keep the university moving forward.
“We all play a role in keeping this campus safe,” Cameron says. “And as a testing technician, I feel that I get to actively help keep campus open by ensuring that testing is running smoothly and safely.”
Bradley, desk supervisor at Chadbourne
Bradley’s favorite moments as a Badger have been the crisp fall Saturdays spent marching into Camp Randall with the UW Marching Band. But these days, instead of playing trumpet for 80,000 screaming Badger fans, this junior from Appleton keeps things amped at home by experimenting with espresso creations and sharing them with friends.
“It gives me something to distract my mind,” says Bradley, whose go-to specialty is a lavender latte. “And it makes my home smell incredible!”
In their campus job as desk supervisor at Chadbourne Residence Hall, Bradley’s role to manage and support 10 desk staff while supervising several tasks involving housing contracts, residents’ access to the building and other key elements of daily life at Chadbourne.
And in a pandemic, important changes can happen quickly and frequently.
“I take my responsibility seriously, to pass on to my staff any and all COVID information and updates,” explains Bradley, a retailing and consumer behavior major. “While I feel the responsibility of the obligation, it also feels rewarding to see the campus slowly opening certain facilities and services—and having Chadbourne never have to quarantine itself.”
Maddie, health technician at testing sites
As a member of the UW Spirit Squad, Maddie loves the rush of cheerleading, and the roar at Camp Randall when the Badgers take the field. And in her job as a Health Technician at the COVID-19 testing sites on campus, this senior biology major from Waukesha says she also loves the opportunity to cheerlead on a different field — by essentially acting as a public health ambassador for UW–Madison.
“In that way, this job comes with a lot of responsibility, inside and outside of the work setting,” says Maddie, who plans to go to medical school after she graduates this spring. As a testing site Health Technician, Maddie helps students, staff and faculty with their specimen collection — whether that’s a saliva sample at most sites, or a nasal swab.
To unwind after a chaotic day, Maddie enjoys painting and writing poetry, and she ran her first half-marathon a little over a year ago. Maddie also looks forward to crossing another finish line of sorts with her fellow Badgers: “I can’t wait for everyone to be able to enjoy a home football game again in Camp Randall! There is nothing like Badger football in the fall and the ambiance that surrounds it.”
Meet more of the people who make Safer Badgers work, here.
