Our 2013 Graduates

A restaurant's staff has many faces and many personalities. It takes all kinds of people to make this work. Without our staff being available on the weekends and holidays such as Mother's Day, New Years Eve and Chirstmas Eve, we would have a very difficult time making this work.

While you tend to lean on the reliability & experience of your veteran staff members, you never quite know what you will get from your younger generation staff, most notably high schoolers. But, it should be known that without them, this would be a difficult business to run successfully.

What's neat about the younger staff that comes through here is that they are as much appreciated by the servers and cooks they help, as they are by management. We need them. They are an integral part of our team.

With all kinds of people, come all kinds of personalities ...and that is one of the things I enjoy most about seeing these kids grow. From their first shift when they walk in the door, rarely are they a ball of fire that shows even the most outgoing parts of their personalities. Usually it takes 3, 4, 5 shifts or more for some to even begin talking. Then one day, all of a sudden, they seem to break out of their shell and you get to know them for who they really are. It's a great thing to watch evolve.

Next thing you know, however, they graduate and go away. Some come back for summers and weekends. Others, you wonder if you can ever replace. And here we are again. Our class of 2013:

Devin Boyd

Devin has been with us throughout his high school career. He has washed dishes, prepped and cooked with us over the years. He is big part of our kitchen staff. He will graduate from LaSalle-Peru High School and is very interested in welding. He will work full-time for the Uptown this summer and make future plans from there.

Marlee Giacometti
Marlee has been with us for 3 years. Busser to Hostess and is now a major part of the Uptown's Playlist Theater. She has been the staff leader at every position she has worked with us. Marlee is graduating from Putnam County High School. She will attend IVCC and major in speech pathology. Luckily for us, she will be around at least another year.

Moriah Feagin
Moriah started just last summer and has quickly become one of our key staff members at the front desk, especially on those very busy Friday and Saturday nights. She is graduating from LaSalle-Peru High School and will attend IVCC in the fall. We will be lucky again in that we can keep Moriah around for at least another year as well.

Alex Maysonet

Alex also just recently joined our kitchen staff in the last 6 months. He will graduate from LaSalle-Peru High School and work full-time for us this summer as well. Alex has shown great interest in learning how to cook and we see Alex as one of our key people back there in the very near future.

Dalton Owen
Dalton will also graduate from LaSalle-Peru High School. Dalton has been with us for most of his high school career. He started off as a dishwasher and quickly became a very big part of our cooks staff. It was great to see him learn so many things in the kitchen. He will attend IVCC for 2 years and major in criminal justice. He plans to be a police officer. This summer, he will work full-time with Pioneer. We wish him much success in his future and hope he can still fit us in his busy schedule.

Shelby Straughn

Shelby just joined our team in the last couple of months and has been a great addition to our staff. She is graduating from LaSalle-Peru High School and will attend The University of Iowa in the fall and will be very valuable part-time help to us on weekends and school breaks. Shelby will double-major in Psychology and Pre-Med.

Thanks for all your hard work, and congratulations on your graduation. You make and have made coming to work fun. Good luck in all of your future endeavors!