{"id":21163,"date":"2024-05-28T16:53:30","date_gmt":"2024-05-29T00:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=21163"},"modified":"2024-05-28T16:54:12","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T00:54:12","slug":"an-interview-with-crystal-ross","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/an-interview-with-crystal-ross\/","title":{"rendered":"An interview with Crystal Ross"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by: Gretchen Sims | Editor-in-Chief<\/span><\/p>\n

The first face students see when walking into the Student Health and Counseling Center is often Medical Receptionist, Crystal Ross, always donning an earnest, welcoming smile. Her friendly demeanor fits right in with the center \u2014 as if she’s always been there \u2014 but what many students don’t realize is that it took a lot to get there.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Ross is best known for her work at the front desk of Western\u2019s Student Health and Counseling Center, she spent many years working in the field before settling down at Western.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I met my husband in 1997, and we were both working in the same company in Dallas. The economy was a little unstable and the person who owned the company was selling it and so I told my husband, \u2018If we\u2019re both here when this place goes down, or goes under, because I\u2019m pretty sure it\u2019s going to, we\u2019re gonna be in trouble,\u2019\u201d Ross said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ross then made the ultimate decision to go to school for Medical Billing and Coding. She went to a trade school for a year \u2014 working graveyard shifts at the company with her husband and going to school during the day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After receiving her certification in Medical Billing and Coding, Ross took her internship, or practicum, at West Salem Family Practice. When a receptionist position opened up, she decided to apply.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like a step, a foot in the door, and within three months, they had an opening in their business office so I ended up getting to go into the business office and use that Medical Billing and Coding knowledge that I had. And, so I was there for nine years, and a friend of mine, who was also a coworker, she had come to Western and was working in the Student Health and Counseling Center and she\u2019s like \u2018I think you\u2019d really like it here, they have a receptionist position open; you should apply,\u2019\u201d said Ross.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ross felt that there was nowhere to go in her job at West Salem; she felt like she couldn\u2019t move up and had no room to grow anymore, so she decided to take the opening at Western.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI guess the rest is history. They told me when I interviewed there would be potential for me to do some Medical Billing \u2014 that they were trying to get that started \u2014 and I have done some Medical Billing and Coding here. I used to have an office in the back, here, and then when COVID happened, and we lost some of our employees, I went back up front, and I feel like I really just thrive there,\u201d Ross said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ross has come to love her home here at Western.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite part about (Western) is definitely the students\u2026 definitely the students. I love working with the students, I love getting to know them. I try really hard to remember things about students and what they tell me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike some larger schools, Western has the unique privilege, in part, due to its size, of fostering strong and consistent communication between departments.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c…I also really like that I can reach out to someone in other departments and know that they\u2019re going to do their best to help me. Whether it\u2019s helping me personally, or helping me help a student, I just think that Western being as small as it is, we really do well at helping each other help the students,\u201d said Ross.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ross loves animals. At home, she has two rabbits, four cats, three dogs, a lizard, a snake, two horses, six ducks and 12 chickens, so, naturally, she feels passionate about the SHCC\u2019s local squirrel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh my gosh,\u201d said Ross \u201cI love the squirrel. I love all of the squirrels on campus, I just think they\u2019re such a fun, neat animal and so I\u2019ll see this little guy hop around on the sidewalk in front of our building, you know, of course, in and out of the trash can. I call him Benny\u2026 I just thought it was a cute name and\u2026 I gave him food one day\u2026 ooh I know\u2026 I gave him a little peanut. I know, I don\u2019t make a habit of that, because I don\u2019t think they really want you feeding them, but\u2026 so yeah, Benny hangs out, I see him every day, running around, in front of the Student Health and Counseling Center \u2014 he\u2019s our little mascot,\u201d Ross said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Working with students is a passion of Ross\u2019s: she loves every one of them here at Western, but oftentimes, at the front desk of the SHCC, Ross sees them at their lowest. Ross is widely regarded for her optimism and friendly and welcoming personality, and while it\u2019s not always easy, Ross always manages to keep a beaming smile on her face.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had a pretty traumatic childhood myself, and once I got away from the trauma, and I realized the things this person had said about me were not true \u2014 it was my ex-stepdad \u2014 I just thought, I need to be a cycle breaker, I need to be someone who cares about other people and shows that I care about other people,\u201d Ross said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ross attests to the importance of putting her best foot forward when she walks through the doors of the SHCC each morning.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal when someone walks through our doors is for them to have a positive experience because oftentimes they aren’t feeling well. So, if just smiling and being kind can help them feel better, that is my goal. A friendly face can make all the difference,\u201d said Ross.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI always tell my kids that, even if I\u2019m having the worst day, none of my students are ever going to know \u2014 that I\u2019m having a bad day \u2014 because I need to be the person that students can come to and know that they\u2019re going to be taken care of, regardless of how my day is going. I want to be that positive light, I want to show people that I care about them, so I just think that I come to work every day knowing that I am impacting so many people\u2019s lives. That just helps me keep that positive attitude, because I know that everybody has things that they\u2019re going through and sometimes, all you need is one person to be kind to you and that can change your whole entire day \u2014 it could change your whole entire mood \u2014 and so if I can be the person who is the bright light for that person\u2019s day, then that\u2019s what I want to do,\u201d Ross continued.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Besides simply being a bright light to the students here at Western, \u201cI also have the privilege of helping these young adults learn how to navigate the healthcare system, which can be overwhelming for anyone. A lot of students are far from home and need guidance. I feel honored to be part of helping them grow and learn. I am a mom, so I think about how I would want my children to be treated,\u201d said Ross.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ross has several tattoos ranging from her first, which is of her favorite Disney character, Eeyore, to a Gemini astrological sign as a memorial to her father.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThen I have one more, it\u2019s on my chest here, so I was a teenager in the 90s, so 90s grunge and alternative music, that is my jam \u2014 that\u2019s my favorite thing. My most favorite band in the world is Soundgarden, which was actually my very first concert when I was 18, and Chris Cornell, who is the lead singer of Soundgarden, completed suicide about almost seven years ago. That was really hard for me because my childhood was\u2026 traumatic, and music was my outlet. If I was having a bad day, or just needed to be calmed down, music was always my outlet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ross has had the tattoo since Cornell passed away.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis, here, is Chris Cornell\u2019s autograph, and then this is the lyric from the song \u2018Black Hole Sun\u2019 and it says \u2018No one sings like you anymore,\u2019 and I thought that was appropriate because no one will sing like him, and that was a song that he wrote,\u201d Ross said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ross loves all of her students \u2014 \u201cYes, I refer to all of you as my students,\u201d \u2014 and wants them to feel seen, heard and validated. She aims to make the SHCC as welcoming to students as possible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal when someone walks through our doors is for them to have a positive experience because oftentimes they aren’t feeling well. So, if just smiling and being kind can help them feel better, that is my goal. A friendly face can make all the difference,\u201d Ross said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With all of that love for students, Ross wanted to leave them with a piece of advice.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAlways believe in yourself because even if you feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders, it will get better. It will get better. There are people out there that care about you and want you to succeed. Sometimes you don\u2019t always know who those people are and they\u2019ll come into your life when it\u2019s the right time,\u201d said Ross.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The SHCC is a fantastic resource for Western students. Whether it is to just stop by for a piece of candy, to get some studying done or to, of course, make a counseling or doctor\u2019s appointment, Ross wants students to feel welcome and encourages them to swing by at any time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI know that it\u2019s my job, but it\u2019s also my honor and my privilege to serve the students. I know it\u2019s a job, you get paid for it, but it\u2019s definitely something that I enjoy doing and I love coming to work every day and knowing I am making a difference.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n



<\/p>\n

Contact the author at howleditorinchief@mail.wou.edu<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1094,"featured_media":21164,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[3120,3118,3116,3117,991,1621,1539,154,3121,309,2779,3115,333,3119,2788,617,3124,684,1507,3123,3122],"class_list":["post-21163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-black-hole-sun","tag-chris-cornell","tag-crystal-lee-ross","tag-crystal-ross","tag-dallas","tag-editor-in-chief-2","tag-gretchen-sims","tag-lifestyle","tag-medical-billing-and-coding","tag-monmouth","tag-profile","tag-receptionist","tag-shcc","tag-soundgarden","tag-student-health-and-counseling-center","tag-student-life","tag-west-salem-family-practice","tag-western","tag-western-howl","tag-western-oregon-university-campus","tag-wou-western-oregon-university"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1094"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}