Bryan Brownfield, a route driver helper at Campus Stores, Mail and Receiving, has been around the block a time or two.
Brownfield has worked at the U. of I. for 8 1/2 years, taking on his new position at Campus Stores in July.
He started out as a building service worker stationed at the Armory, where he cleaned classrooms and restrooms on the night crew. He tested to become a driver soon after he started there, and switched to the day shift serving departments including transportation, waste transfer and Campus Stores.
“I like driving and I liked the hours a lot better,” he said of the change.
The late-night shift, which runs from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., took some getting used to, but he said he eventually adjusted.
“It had its good and bad sides,” he said of late-night work. “But I’ve got to eat, so I got used to it and came in to work.”
Brownfield now works a “normal” 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. shift, which he said he likes better.
He also likes the aspects of his new job, which entails the shipping and receiving of items to and from locations all across campus.
Brownfield will find himself on one side of the campus one day and on the other side the next – but he always starts at the docks of the Campus Stores building, located on Oak Street, behind the U. of I. carpool.
“We receive and deliver just about everything you could think of,” he said. “People from all over campus order stuff, and our job is to take it to them as fast as we can get it there. ”
He said he enjoys the job because it allows him to see the campus and meet a variety of people, and because there also are times he’s out in a truck by himself with nothing but his thoughts.
Between the moving crew job and his current position, Brownfield said he’s been inside a great number of the buildings on campus.
“There are still some places I haven’t been to, but it’s probably just a matter of time,” he said. “I’ve been here long enough now that I pretty much know where I’m at or how to get there.”
He said the Campus Stores crew is hardworking and easy to get along with, which has made the transition there an easy one for Brownfield.
“There are some hard workers here,” he said. “I don’t want to slack, I don’t want to let anybody down.”
Brownfield, who has lived in Champaign his entire life, said his favorite pastime outside of work is to “chill,” which includes writing, listening to hip-hop and 1980s pop music and watching movies.
He also is an avid collector and builder of Lego sets, which he’s been doing since his childhood.
He said he was introduced to his writing ability after being inspired by an English teacher at Edison Middle School in Champaign when he was a student there.
The habit stuck, and he continues to keep a journal and regularly updates his blog.
“I write about life, about anything that comes to my mind – whatever I’m feeling or thinking at the time,” he said. “It’s pretty random, but it’s something I like to do.”
