Walking down the halls of Manchester Academy, Lashone Robins helps a teacher move boxes of books around in preparation for the upcoming school year. A few seconds later, she is grabbing a vacuum cleaner for another teacher. She is right in the middle of the action, ready to work and lend a hand.
“She’s Superwoman,” one teacher said, as Robins makes her way to a desk for this Herald interview.
And with 13 years of being with the local academy, Robin’s smile when speaking about the students and the staff proves she is exactly where she needs to be.
“This is my home away from home,” she said. “I just love it here and all the people here who are like family.”
Robins joined the school over a decade ago when she began to work in the cafeteria alongside her mother.
“I had finished Holmes Community College and had one year left at Jackson State University,” Robins said. “But then I came here and started helping in the cafeteria, coming into the school to help clean. I also started helping in the counselor’s office.”
Thirteen years later, Robins is now in charge of the school’s cafeteria operation, head of custodial duties and runs the athletic concessions.
“And anything and everything in between,” she said, with a smile.
But being at the local school doesn’t seem like a job sometimes to Robins. She enjoys being around the students, many who she has watched grow up before her very eyes.
“I just like to be around the kids,” she said. “And some may look like they have everything, but they don’t. Just treat them how you want to be treated and teach them to do the same. The helpers are the ones who are special to me; those kids who always come and ask me what I need. ‘Can I help you do something?’ They are the kids who often keep to themselves most of the time. But they have a helping spirit.”
Robins said she is also impressed with the students who are active with school activities and sports.
“Those kids who are very active can be positive role models to the other kids,” she said. “You need those kids to step up and show the other kids how to be a positive role model.”
The tight-knit atmosphere at MA is also another rewarding experience for Robins, who said the school went above and beyond for her family when her mother was sick.
“When my mom was sick, they really helped,” she said. “Not just with things here at the school but outside, away from the school as well. I am grateful for that and will always remember it.”
Robins, who also works a night job at Amazon, would like to return to JSU to finish her education as well.
“Hopefully, I will start next year,” she said. “My major is social work administration. I wanted to pursue that field because it is still dealing with kids. Working with kids is what I am supposed to be doing.”
When she is not working, Robins can be found working in her yard. Although it may seem like a chore to some, she said it is her “me time.”
“I stay out there all day,” she said. “That is when it is just me and God. I meditate with Him, cut my grass and weed eat. I just love it.”
Robins has a daughter, who is a teach in Atlanta, and a son, who works with Border Control in San Diego while remaining active in the Army Reserve. She has a special nephew, who recently completed his studies at Hinds Community College. She is also a proud grandmother.
“I just enjoy being around my family, and that is where you will find me most of the time when I am not working…with my family,” she said. “Family means a lot to me. And that is why I like it here at MA. It’s like family. And through everything, just keep your faith in God. As long as you got Him, everything will fall into place.”
