|
Employee spotlight: Sami Snelling
Sami Snelling estimates she�s printed the
majority of business cards sitting in the wallets and purses of
the thousands of staff and faculty members who are employed at
the University of Houston.
That�s because since 1999, she has worked in the UH print shop
as an offset press operator, coming in every morning at 7:30
a.m. to work on the never-ending printing jobs that the various
departments across the university need done.
�The majority of time I am usually running letterheads, business
cards, envelopes, stuff like that,� she said.
When Snelling was hired nearly 14 years ago, she was a two-color
pressman. She went from doing two-color work and running two
presses to now where she can operate four presses and handle
four-color printing jobs. On Mondays, she runs the four-color
press.
�I set it up, load the plates, load the paper, put ink in it,
set the job up, and align it to where it comes out correctly,�
she said.
Snelling grew up in Galena Park. It was when she was a sophomore
at Galena Park High School that she was first introduced to the
world of printing.
�I took the printing class in high school on purpose because it
was two credits. They shipped us from one high school to the
other, so I got out of class for three hours,� she said. �I
didn�t do it on purpose to learn printing, but I ended up liking
the class. It was something that was interesting.�
After high school, she landed a job with the Port of Houston,
where much of her job duties involved running the Xerox machine.
The job didn�t pay much, so she ended up looking for employment
elsewhere, eventually landing a copy clerk position with a local
company. When the company�s pressman quit, Snelling filled in.
Ever since then, she�s been doing printing work as a career.
Snelling has two grown children: daughter Rhiana is 24 and son
Samuel is 23. Her daughter is two hours away from getting her
associate�s degree and then may transfer to UH.
When not at work, Snelling likes to cook, watch movies and put
puzzles together as a way for her to relax. But, she said, she
often turns to work as a way to relieve stress.
�Printing for me, since I have done it for so long, is a way for
me to relax. It allows me to do something where I�m not just
sitting in a chair,� she said. �I just can�t sit there. I have
to be doing something.�
She loves working for the University of Houston.
�I bleed Cougar red. I don�t plan on leaving until I have to
retire,� she said.
|
|