For many students, Steve Casai makes the Hillsdale experience. We complain about the academic workload, we fret about future internships, we gripe about the college town, and—above all—we whine about the food. But the moment a student steps inside Saga (or Bon Appétit, or whatever we’re calling it now), swipes his ID, and hears Saga Steve say, “Thank you. Enjoy your meal,” even the most cynical student recognizes the sincerity in Steve’s voice.
To all of us, such kind words were routine. Steve repeated his mantra to every student who comes into Saga. We heard it two or three times a day, and we always knew Steve would say, “Thank you. Enjoy your meal,” or maybe “Have a nice day.” We also know Steve meant it, every time, to every person who walked through his door.
The freshmen don’t feel Steve’s absence the way the sophomores, juniors, and seniors do, simply because Steve was gone only five days after classes started. Even now, with Steve in the Hillsdale Community Health Center, we don’t know when he will come home.
We at Hillsdale College have fed on Steve’s kind words and sincere smiles for years, and now it’s up to us—the students whom Steve has served for four decades—to pour our kind words, sincere smiles, and earnest prayers upon him in a time when he needs kindness and prayers more than anything else. It’s up to us, the upperclassmen, to show the freshmen how much Steve means to the Hillsdale community by reaching out to him in every way we can. We are Steve’s family, and without him, the Hillsdale experience is sadly incomplete.
