Five on Friday

Featuring Sheila Rice, Department of Business secretary

What is one goal you'd like to accomplish in your lifetime?

Well, I have several goals I'd like to accomplish in my lifetime, like:

· Raise a family of 2-4 kids (We've been waiting on adoption for 2 1/2 years. Our first child, Naomi Joy, passed in 2005; she was 10 days old.)

· Retire comfortably around age 65 or 70. Right now I love my job and would stay with it forever, but I might end up being a stay-at-home mom one of these days, which would be fabulous! Kids are worth it! But I know God always has other plans, so who knows..

·I wish I could run a home for the homeless who are trying to get on their feet, or maybe a maternity home for teenage girls/low-socioeconomic single moms.

·I'd also like to open a B&B and run that.

But truthfully, those all fall short … What I hope to accomplish in my lifetime more than anything is to get to Heaven and hear the Father say, "Well done, thy good and faithful servant," and then look out and see the faces of those I helped in some way, however small, to make it home.

What's the best part of your job?
There are so many facets to my job that I love. The profs. The students. The campus guests. Meeting new people. Every day there is something or someone new that comes my way. But yet there is a consistent pace of professor and student needs that I love meeting on a daily basis. Hosting people, getting them what they need. I guess then I would say serving others is the best part of my job.

If you could have only one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Oh, definitely breakfast at Blue’s Cafe in Kankakee.

What's one thing you and your husband like to do on the weekends?
Every Saturday morning we eat at Blue's. And almost every Sunday morning, we LOVE attending Wildwood Church of the Nazarene in Kankakee. What we love about Wildwood is the multi-cultural experience; it a beautiful rainbow of ethnicity. We've been attending there for more than 10 years now.

What is your favorite part about fall in Illinois?

I absolutely love the trees changing colors! And I love a good football game with the band playing … not the football part, just the atmosphere!