UW-Milwaukee custodian's blackboard messages inspire students

MILWAUKEE - The irony of our digital world is how easy it is to feel disconnected, lost to our own dilemmas and devices. This is a story about human connection in the halls of higher learning. 

"What makes UWM special is people like Trey," said University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) professor Jay Kapellusch. 

And it starts in the basement.  

"We get here pretty early," custodian Trey Velez said. "We start about 6 o’clock."

For the custodial staff at UWM, these are the tools of the trade.

"This is for bathrooms," Trey said, running through the bottles on his cart. "I have a lot of glass. I usually get this chemical named Glance."

But for Trey Velez, something else is always along for the ride. 

"I’ll usually just sit here and read the book if there’s nothing going on," said Trey, tapping the cover of "Other People's Words."

Trey fits right in on a college campus. 

"My favorite mythologies are Mayan, Japanese and Greek," Trey said as he moved from room to room, cleaning up classrooms. 

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Trey is introspective – a free-thinker free to let his mind wander. 

"Creativity is definitely a big word for me," Trey added. "Individuality is probably one of the best things about being a person. You get to choose the type of person you want to be."

Trey starts each day with a clean slate. Because for Trey, it’s not what you take away, it’s what you leave behind. 

"‘Rudeness is the weak man’s imitation of strength,'" Trey said, quoting Eric Hoffer as he wrote those words on a classroom chalkboard.

One morning last semester, Trey was having a case of the Mondays. So he left a message in Lubar 250 for others feeling the same way. 

"And I came in here and I wrote it right there," Trey remembered. "'It sucks the Sunday is over. But, hey welcome to Monday.'"

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Trey and his coworker got a kick out of it. 

"So I started putting more down and people started leaving notes," said Trey, who would choose quotes from Mother Theresa, John Lennon, Oscar Wilde and more. "People would say, ‘Hi, hope you guys have a great day.'"

Day after day, students had no idea who was leaving these messages of hope, motivation, maybe just something to make you think. 

"And I guess it became this huge mystery," said Trey. "Of who was writing in 250."

A man of many interests, Trey will quote anyone from Edgar Allen Poe to Plato. Confucius to…

"This cartoon movie, ‘Kung Fu Panda,’" Trey said with a smile. "‘Tomorrow’s a mystery. Yesterday is history,'" he said, quoting the animated turtle, Master Oogway. "‘And today is a gift, and that’s why it’s called the present.’ That really did kind of hit a little bit."

Whatever the source, the quotes unlocked something on campus. And not just with students. 

"On some days, I needed them," Kapellusch said. "It was fascinating."  

Kapellusch sent pictures to friends and colleagues he thought might also need a pick-me-up.

"It’s just those touchpoints," said associate professor Heidi Bertram, who received some of those pictures. "Those connections with people, the humanity."

But the author of those messages was still a mystery.

"So one day I asked Trey, ‘These quotes are cool, do you know which class is leaving the quotes on it?’" Kapellusch said, laughing. "He, of course, then right away started laughing and said, ‘I do these in the morning when I do the initial clean of the rooms!’"

That discovery made its way to the chancellor’s desk. In January, Trey was honored for the way he represents the school's values. He received a plaque and that book, 'Other People's Words,' with more than a thousand fresh quotes.  

"I'm actually almost finished with it," said Trey.

Asked for an all-time favorite, Trey paraphrases Neil deGrasse Tyson. 

"Out of billions of other possible people that could’ve been alive or would’ve been alive," he said. "We won the lottery of life. We get to experience the good, the bad and the ugly."

With plenty in life to pull us apart -- from distractions to the daily grind – you never know what or who will help us reconnect. 

"I hope he feels some satisfaction that those efforts were worth it," said Kapellusch. "They made a difference in people’s lives. In some ways small and I imagine in some ways large."

"Focusing on the positives rather than the negatives [is] the best possible way of living life," Trey stated. "That’s kind of how I think about it at least."

And yes, you can quote him on that.

Trey is currently taking classes at MATC, with plans to transfer to UWM and major in psychology. He wants to help people. Plenty would say he already has.