All Star Coach

Mary McDaniel – Spokane Falls Community College

Mary is the Testing Center Coordinator at SFCC and has been the ETC since September 2017. She markets her program to a campus of over 250 staff and faculty members. SFCC offers discounted transit passes, where the employees only pay $10 per month, preferred parking and reduced parking fees for carpoolers, a guaranteed ride home program, lockers, showers and secured bike storage.

Mary is also a carpooler and most recently, encouraged her manager to start carpooling with her. In the warmer months, she’ll occasionally walk or bike to work.

Since becoming the ETC 18 months ago, Mary has enlisted the help of fellow co-workers and now has a 7-person CTR committee, nearly all of who use commute alternatives to get to campus. They’ve instituted a campus wide recognition program, giving prizes to participants and those updating their calendars. One committee member even baked home-made cookies as a giveaway. They utilize the campus TV monitors for CTR information and updates. As well as notifying staff and faculty by email who the winners are, including a picture of the winners.

In 2019, the committee is planning on meeting with each department one on one, giving away swag and food to encourage participation! Even though the committee hasn’t been meeting for long, they are getting the word out about their program. More people on campus know about CTR and are talking about it because of their advertising and communication. The number of employees filling out their calendar has tripled since Mary took over the program.

Mary’s biggest challenge is the size of the campus and buildings being spread out, however, the CTR committee is assisting with that.

Mary said she feels like she’s making a difference and cares about the positive impact her work has on the environment. Her words of wisdom for other ETCs, “Persistent promotion and patience!”