Meet Heather: Administrative office specialist in the School of Business, Technology and Industry, mom of three children, ages 5, 3 and 14 months

“Be sure to give yourself (and each other) some grace! These times are not normal and so we can’t expect our work lives to go on as normal just at home. Ask for flexibility, communicate your struggles and your triumphs.”

Heather Pragel, administrative office specialist in the School of Business, Technology and Industry

• What do you do at HACC?
  I do a little bit of everything! I assist the deans with scheduling and staffing, ensure faculty are being paid for their classes, help deans field student concerns and support my fellow Classified Employee Organization (CEO) colleagues.
   
• How old are your children?
  Heath, 5.5; Ellery, 3; and Camden, 14 months
   
• How are you effectively juggling your professional duties and your personal duties of having your children at home while you work?
  Effectively? I’m not sure I’m doing it effectively, but I am doing it. It’s what parents do all the time – adapt and make it happen. I am enjoying not having a commute to work! With my supervisor’s blessing, I am being more flexible in my work day. I am now starting work when I would be walking my son to the bus stop. On my lunch break, I’m making lunch for the kiddos and myself. Some days, my work has shifted later in the day because I need to be more present with my children. Instead of taking a mental break to walk to my friends in another office, I’m now helping my children complete worksheets – writing letters to friends with the 5-year-old, working on tracing and coloring with the 3-year-old, and painting paper with water for the baby.
  
  I am so grateful to have a partner who is able to help me so well to juggle my work life and family life. We have been doing a lot of what I’ve been calling tag-team parenting! I am also grateful to my colleagues for understanding that these are not normal times and that “Kids Happen.”
   
• What tips (things to do and things to not do) would you offer to other parents who are struggling with this?
  [My husband] and I both work for HACC. We have been fortunate to be able to reschedule some meetings so we aren’t in simultaneous meetings. We put holds on each other’s calendars so we know when someone is unavailable [and know] to keep an eye on the kids. When that isn’t able to be worked out, sometimes my meeting mates see a pop-up of my kids as they “Zoom bomb” my camera. I also try to keep my meetings on mute and the video hidden if I can’t be in our dedicated workspace in the house. Be sure to give yourself (and each other) some grace! These times are not normal and so, we can’t expect our work lives to go on as normal just at home. Ask for flexibility, communicate your struggles and your triumphs. Find the good that is still going on. And lean on your support groups! We are all in this together, we need to support one another.
   
• Is there anything else you would like to share that we did not ask?
  I am so proud with how our staff have been able to come together and make this transition in such a short amount of time. HACC is full of rock stars and everyone needs to be proud of the work we are doing.