Rose basketball highlights
Wilkins wins Office Employee of the Year
WED. | 03-02-22 | FEATURES
Last Monday, Feb. 7, wasn’t a typical day at the desk for Rose front desk receptionist Dora Johnson-Wilkins. She received news that she had won the Pitt County Schools (PCS) Office Employee of the Year.
Johnson-Wilkins has been working at Rose for six years. Prior to this, she worked other jobs.
“I was a [qualified professional] for a mental health agency, and I also taught second grade,” Johnson-Wilkins said.
She came to Rose in 2016 and started working in the media center until the spring of 2017.
“I actually started [working] in the media center first,” Johnson-Wilkins said. “When Mrs. Jacobson was here, she pulled me up because the other secretary left.”
Johnson-Wilkins got nominated for the PCS Office Employee of the Year by the staff at Rose and moved on in the competition.
“They voted for me here [at Rose] and then I had to go through an interview process at the county office,” Johnson-Wilkins said. “The process started way back in November.”
Johnson-Wilkins is set apart from other office employees by her ability to go above her job requirements and help others out.
“I do a little bit of everything and I can help here and there,” Johnson-Wilkins said. “I can do the
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attendance office, sign people up for drivers ed, sell football tickets, answer the phone 365 times a day; I can sign the subs in; just a little bit of everything.”
However, as a front desk receptionist, Johnson-Wilkins spends most of the time in her day at the desk.
“I mostly answer the phones and direct calls where they need to go,” Johnson-Wilkins said. “If teachers have any questions or need to find a student, I can look it up in PowerSchool.”
She also used to enjoy greeting visitors that came through the front office.
“Before they put the security doors up, I would greet people because they would come in here first,” Johnson-Wilkins said.
Johnson-Wilkins’ favorite aspect of her job is the fact that she never knows what is going to happen one day to another.
“I like how it's not the same every day,” Johnson-Wilkins said. “You could have a lockdown one day or it could be slow one day, but it is always something new and it’s pretty fun for me.”
She also likes the family environment created in the front office and the student services department.
“Up here we are pretty close, we look out for each other and all cover for each other when somebody is out,” Johnson-Wilkins said.
When she is out of the office, Johnson-Wilkins likes to spend time with the Rampant football team.
“I am also the unofficial media person for the football team,” Johnson-Wilkins said. “I take pictures and have all the selfies with Coach Bland before the games.”
She has always enjoyed going to football games, especially to watch her own kids.
“I have twins that are thirty, and my youngest daughter is twenty-four,” Johnson-Wilkins said. “They played football and she was a cheerleader.”
Her own children are out of the nest, and she has seen many students graduate from Rose.
“I still see students that have graduated and they say ‘Hey Mrs. Wilkins’ or ‘I miss you’,” Johnson-Wilkins said. “I still keep in touch with a lot of them on social media and they are all so sweet.”
