Nicholas ’11. Kathy Nestorak | Courtesy
After 19 years of working for the Hillsdale College bookstore, Kathy Nestorak has decided to enter semi-retirement.
When she first applied for the position in 2001, she said she knew that Hillsdale College would be a great place to start a career.
“I knew they were the best employer in town and a great university,” Nestorak said. “Both of my children are now alumni. They were in middle school when I took the job.”
Nestorak’s daughter graduated in 2010 and her son graduated in 2011. Both received music degrees.
“My son went on to get a masters in vocal performance and he’s actually an adjunct voice professor here,” Nestorak said. “It’s a cool way that things turned out.”
Her position in the bookstore involves communicating with professors, ordering textbooks, and calculating how many books need to be ordered each semester. The advent of online book sellers over the years presented her job with new struggles.
“There’s many places now where you can buy a book besides the bookstore,” Nestorak said. “When I first started working here 19 years ago, if there were 20 students in the class you ordered 20 books. It’s not like that anymore. That’s why we push the textbook pre-order now so we can have an idea of how many textbooks we need to have.”
Junior Elizabeth Bianchi, an employee in the bookstore, said she is impressed by Nestorak’s ability to handle all of the duties her job requires.
“She has the patience of a saint,” Bianchi said. “She has to work with people who have no idea how her job really works, so a lot of them are not mindful of her timetables. She always has to scramble to make it work and she always makes it work. It’s great that we can have such a wide selection of books. I know visitors and donors really appreciate having an in-person bookstore.”
Aside from working with textbooks, Nestorak said one of her favorite parts of her job is interacting with students.
“I love meeting families that are prospective. People will remember that I spoke to them,” Nestorak said. “I am always interested when they’re involved in music with both of my children being involved in music here. I suggested to one girl that we have a great jazz program and she went on to pursue that as her life career after she graduated from Hillsdale. It was really neat that it came full circle.”
Once Nestorak goes into semi-retirement, she will miss connecting with the vibrant student life on campus, but has many hobbies she’s excited to spend more time doing, including restoring her house, which was built in 1878.
“There’s always something that needs to be done with that, and we have 7 acres,” Nestorak said. “Our son bought a house in Hillsdale and it’s old like ours and needs a lot of work. My husband just retired in December after 40 years with the postal service so we’re helping with some of the repairs. We’re never really bored.”
Nestorak also said she looks forward to volunteering more with her church, sewing, and traveling to see her son perform as an opera singer.
“We’ve managed to travel quite a few places to see him that we never would’ve gone otherwise,” Nestorak said. “I’m looking forward to starting doing more of that because they’ve been very enjoyable trips.”
Nestorak said her reason for going into semi-retirement rather than a full retirement was to train her successor.
“There’s so much in my head with this job that I can’t really write on paper,” Nestorak said. “I’m trying to import to the young lady that’s replacing me as much as I possibly can. I’m hoping to help with some of that and make it easier on her because it’s quite a bit to digest.”
Hillsdale College Bookstore Director Cindy Willing said Nestorak has helped the bookstore over the years with her knowledge and ability to balance all of the tasks required of her.
“It’s very hard but she takes her job very personally,” Willing said. “It’s like a mom thing. She’s like a house mother to all of the kids here. She feels adamant that she has all the tools they need to be successful and get the best experience while they’re here.”
Willing said that Nestorak has a knack for connecting with visiting students and has made an impact on the student body as a whole.
“When prospective students wander in, she’ll greet them and spend as much time as they need to feel comfortable about getting answers they need regarding textbooks, classes, and Hillsdale in general,” Willing said. “She has a lot of fans that are students. She goes to the music events and tries to be there for the students in many ways.”