Pilotonline.com September 29, 2013 NSU administrator's coffee mugs are filled with stories By Denise M. Watson At first glance, it appears Terricita Sass has an addiction to coffee. Mugs in bright pinks and soft blues, with Mickey Mouse ears, palm trees and baby seals - 425 in all - take up an entire wall of her Norfolk State University office. Sass doesn't drink coffee. She's the assistant vice president of enrollment management, and she doesn't even, technically, collect mugs. She collects stories. Each mug has one attached, and most are from students and families she's guided during her 26 years at the university. They are cups of not-enough-money, not-enough-courage, not-enough-time, and represent instances that Sass has called on financial donors, made phone calls, often just listened, to help someone find a way. "You see these kids, you never know where life is going to take you, and you don't mean for people to get into your soul," Sass said. "And they do." Sass started at NSU in 1987 in the department of institutional research. A number cruncher by trade, she operated in a world of data, analyses and spreadsheets, but she smiled at students on campus and couldn't help asking whether they were OK when it was obvious they weren't. The cup thing began when people noticed four nondescript mugs - mere dust collectors from education conferences - sitting on her window sill. If people asked whether she collected cups, she'd say no, but some folks didn't ask. They just assumed. In 1991, student Tracia Joyner of Drewryville chatted with Sass about how she didn't have the money to stay in Norfolk. Sass didn't have children at the time, and her husband was away with the Navy. The student suggested that she stay with Sass in her Chesapeake home to keep her company. Sass knew Joyner well and agreed. A year later, Joyner came to Sass with another student in a similar predicament. That student, too, moved in. Nearing their graduation, the girls walked into Sass's office with something hidden behind them. "My first thought was, 'Oh, they've broken something in the house,' " Sass said. The girls gave her a box. In it was a gold cup engraved with the words: "Terricita, with love Amanda and Tracia." The young women got jobs, got married, began their grown-up lives and included Sass in them. In 1995, Joyner died in a car accident. Sass still gets emotional when she holds the cup. Her training had been in black-and-white, but dealing with young adults was more complex. She started adding comfortable seating in her office, with boxes of tissues nearby. The tears were often about money, and she sometimes dipped into her own purse. Eventually, her husband suggested she leave her checkbook at home. Another one of her favorites is one striped in red, green and gold. She received it from a young man who had been raised by his grandmother in St. Croix, had come to Norfolk State with brilliant grades and an attitude that he couldn't make it. He became one of "Sass's students," those who had to meet with her regularly and update her on grades and life. He brought her the mug two years after he graduated in 2003 and told her to pull it from her shelf whenever she faced a young male on her office couch, ready to give up. "You tell them my story," he said. The University of Florida mug is another she often uses as an example of perseverance. Thomas Moore came from Portsmouth's I.C. Norcom High in 2002 to study business. He'd heard about Sass and her "problem couch" - or "solution sofa," as some students began to call it. As student government president, Moore worked with Sass to answer questions about enrollment and financial aid for students. When he stopped serving as president during his last semester, though, he lost the scholarship that went with it. Even with loans, he fell short of what he needed to stay in school. He went to Sass, and she helped him find money to cover the gap. Moore later studied at Virginia Tech and is now completing doctoral work at Florida. During Christmas break in 2010, Moore went by Sass's office with the mug. "I knew that it was important to pay homage to people who helped me," he said. "I definitely wanted to make sure I told her thank you, and adding to her collection is a cool thing to do." SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-702-5854 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 200 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.