Meet Kristin: Executive assistant to the president and secretary to the HACC Board of Trustees, mom of three daughters, ages 7, 9 and 10

“First and foremost, I have adopted the motto to not be hard on myself. If I have to hand my kids a device or sit them in front of the TV for an hour in order for me to be able to focus on work, I do it. That would be my number one tip.” 

Kristin Graeser, executive assistant to the president and secretary to the HACC Board of Trustees

• What do you do at HACC?
  Everything! Honestly, I do not have a “cut-and-dried” job description like most people. I am the president’s left hand and do everything I can to help him maintain his sanity. In my two years at HACC, I have become knowledgeable with topics and information collegewide in order to be the president’s alter ego if needed. When he is unavailable, I have to be confident in making immediate decisions.
   
• How old are your children?
  My three girls are 7.5, 9 and 10. We are a blended family and share custody of our children. I have one biological child, Zoey, 9, and two bonus children, Irie, 10, and Marley, 7.5.
   
• How are you effectively juggling your professional duties and your personal duties of having your children at home while you work?
  Thankfully, my children are older, so it is slightly easier to ask them to read a book or for them to do schoolwork independently online while my husband and I are in meetings or are juggling work duties.
   
• What tips (things to do and things to not do) would you offer to other parents who are struggling with this?
  First and foremost, I have adopted the motto to not be hard on myself. If I have to hand my kids a device or sit them in front of the TV for an hour in order for me to be able to focus on work, I do it. That would be my number one tip. Second, have some sort of structure/routine, as best you can. Make them get up at a certain time each morning during the week, have breakfast, brush their teeth and get dressed for the day. I also keep bedtime the same as it would be during the week on school days.
   
• Is there anything else you would like to share that we did not ask?
  I also have assisted employees with learning how to work remotely when the College determined it was going fully remote due to COVID-19. I held “Zoom 101” sessions that administrators and faculty attended in order to answer any questions they had or to help them troubleshoot issues. Since going remote, I have also assisted OIST with providing “office hours” for colleagues to utilize for questions for the first three weeks of going fully remote. My open office hours have stopped, but I have had colleagues reach out to me via email with questions that I was able to troubleshoot for them. I have also put in place a protocol for documents that require the president’s signature during this remote time. I have worked with the executive assistants of the president’s direct reports to put measures in place in order to remain as seamless as possible. Lastly, I now meet weekly, via Zoom, with Pennsylvania’s 13 other community college executive assistants. We plan to utilize this time to discuss what changes we have made in our positions in order to support colleagues, our presidents and, most importantly, our students. We also plan to use this time to “decompress” with each other.