Many college graduates expect to “clean up” once they earn their degrees. Things were different for Boyd Joseph (B.J.) and Tiphanie Erwin of Dresden, who cleaned up on the way to receiving their diplomas. Both worked as student custodians at UT Martin while completing degree requirements. B.J. received his degree in secondary history, May 9, one year after his wife, Tiphanie, earned a degree in human learning pre K-3. Both are trading in their custodial positions to become schoolteachers.

B.J. and Tiphanie are Weakley County residents and Dresden High School graduates. The couple met at church and married in 2004, the same year Tiphanie graduated from high school. Tiphanie started working for the university’s physical plant the day after her classes ended. As a part-time employee, she knew that she could schedule work around her classes.

B.J. began working at the E.W. James & Sons grocery store in Dresden in 1991 as a high school sophomore, where he remains a part-time employee. He came to UT Martin in fall 1993 but ended up on academic probation “because I really didn’t want to be in college.” He dropped out shortly after the 1994 spring semester began. Time passed, “And I guess I had to grow up and decided … that I wanted to do something else with my life …,” he said. B.J. had long dreamed of becoming a teacher, so he joined Tiphanie in spring 2005 as a UT Martin student.

Family finances required that he work, and noticing how the physical plant scheduled Tiphanie’s hours around her class schedule, B.J. applied for a student worker’s position on the custodial staff. He was hired and worked up to 20 hours weekly for the university (a policy for student workers) while also keeping his part-time job at the grocery store. His work usually totaled 30 hours in addition to his classes and homework, so time was precious.

Tiphanie began working at the Paul Meek Library and then transferred about a year later to Gooch Hall. Her days usually started at 5 or 6 a.m., and she worked until her first class began. Depending on her accumulated hours, she sometimes returned to work after class. During the summers, she worked from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. cleaning restrooms, dusting, sweeping and mopping floors, changing light bulbs and washing windows – whatever was needed. “I also worked weekend crew,” she said. “The semester I student-taught…I worked the weekends.”

B.J. also worked mostly in Gooch Hall, which involved cleaning restrooms, floors and desks, emptying garbage and other duties. “Basically, you have to make sure the building is ready for classes,” he said, adding, “One thing it did do, and I think it was good working custodian work, is we both want to be teachers, and we’re doing custodian work in a classroom and in a school building. You see what the janitor does. If it wasn’t for the custodian crew, the buildings wouldn’t be in any shape,” he said.

Meshing work and academics was challenging. “You’d go to your classes and go to work, and you’d go home, and you’d have all that homework to do,” Tiphanie said. Then she was up at 4 a.m. to start the next day. Once her work was done, she would sometimes sit in the janitor’s closet to study. “I hated night classes,” B.J. remembered as Tiphanie laughed in agreement, “Because you’d go home at 9 o’clock at night.” He added, though, “Anything worthwhile is not going to be easy. You’re going to have to work.”

Despite the long hours, they were never discouraged to the point of quitting their jobs or school. While 15- to 17-hour days weren’t unusual, they saw the experience as preparation for the teaching world. “Teachers don’t have 8 to 3 jobs really,” B.J. said, well aware that teachers work much more beyond the regular school day with class preparation, grading papers and evening activities.

As part-time workers, B.J. and Tiphanie weren’t issued the standard work clothes worn by physical plant employees, so they dressed appropriately for the work they performed. Both would often wear their work clothes to class, and they sometimes were treated differently. “I mean, that happens everywhere you go,” he said. “But by and large, most of the people…were really supportive. They were really good.” And, when people learned that Tiphanie and he were students, they became even more supportive of what the couple was trying to accomplish.

On a personal level, the jobs eliminated their biases about people who do similar work. “It’s legitimate work. It’s necessary work…,” he said. “They teach you in the education classes over here to make friends out of the school secretary and the janitor, because they’re two of the most important people in the school. And after you’ve walked in the janitor’s shoes and [have] seen what the janitor does, you realize that they’re right. You realize that they are very important to the school—anywhere really.”

Both like to meet new people, and their custodial work offered the side benefit of working with international students employed by the physical plant. “That was a new experience for me,” Tiphanie said. Besides exposure to the different cultures, she said the couple provided assistance to international students by checking their class assignments and even explaining how to order food at the local McDonald’s.

And, the custodial work did have its memorable moments. They recalled arriving early one morning and were waiting in the Gooch Hall lobby to clock in when they saw something run across the hall floor. A skunk had entered an open door and proceeded to find a hiding place. “We searched for that thing for most of the day, and we could not find it,” B.J. said. Fortunately, nobody was sprayed, and a staff member eventually saw it and, from a safe distance, ran the intruding skunk out a door.

Remarkably, B.J. earned his degree in four-and-a-half years, while Tiphanie graduated in only four. Education classes, in particular, require a significant time commitment outside of class; so to complete degrees amid busy work schedules is a significant accomplishment. Each has also excelled with the tests required for teacher licensing. Tiphanie is fully licensed, and B.J. was recognized for a high score on the Principles of Learning and Teaching (PLT) test. He’s also passed the history certification test and is waiting on scores from the geography and government tests. Teachers must be “highly qualified” through passing these tests to become licensed to teach.

The Erwins continue to live in Dresden and would like to stay in the region, so they’re busy applying for teaching positions. Tiphanie has substituted in Carroll and Weakley County schools and now plans to seek certification to teach more grades as she applies for positions. “The problem education, I think, is facing that everybody else has seen is that a lot of the older teachers aren’t retiring,” B.J. said, who has landed a geography teaching position for the 2009-10 academic year at Henry County High School. Both he and Tiphanie have continued to be employed by the university. Dennis Kosta, the university’s custodial manager, is pleased to have both, and he offers high praise for the Erwins and their work in the physical plant.

“Both B.J. and Tiphanie have worked for me for several years and have done an outstanding job,” Kosta said. “We have been blessed to have student workers like them over the years, and I do rely on them to keep our campus as good as it can be.”

Beyond achieving their personal goals to land teaching positions, regular employment is a financial necessity. As part-time workers, neither qualified for employee educational benefits. Tiphanie earned the Hope Lottery Scholarship, but they both had to take out loans along the way. “But that makes you work harder,” B.J. said. “You know when it’s your own dime instead of your parents’ money or the government’s money you work harder.”

The Erwins’ experiences have left them in a good position to offer others advice on achieving success. “Keep your eye on the goal,” Tiphanie said, while B.J. carried that thought a step further. “…Sometimes people have to grow up,” he said, noting that he speaks from experience. “I’ve seen people that get out of school, do like I did and work in the workforce, and then come back to college later on and do well. I’ve seen other people leave school and go in the military and learn discipline and then come back to college later on and do really well.” Other students he sees “just need to get their priorities straight.”

Keeping priorities straight isn’t a problem for B.J. and Tiphanie Erwin. No job was ever too big, too dirty or started too early in the morning as they worked in and out of the classroom to earn degrees. And, nobody appreciates clean classrooms more than the Erwins who are about to realize their dream of becoming teachers.