In response to Christy Choi's article "Quenching the thirst of students...," Jack Chao is officially my hero.
As a senior and former two-year resident of Trent Drive Hall, I ate at Grace's five nights a week and have not encountered a more friendly, interesting, likeable or hard-working staff anywhere else at Duke.
I have also frequently come into contact with Jack at Quenchers and have witnessed first hand the interest he shows in students' lives.
Although he went to UNC, he shows an interest in all Duke athletics, from basketball down to the lesser-known sport I play, which is ice hockey.
He takes the dining rankings seriously and has a progressive mind that is always open to new ideas. What other juice bar would sell roses for Valentine's Day?
Only Jack Chao and his staff could keep Grace's not only surviving, but thriving in Trent, a building in which students no longer live. It would have been easy for him to shut her down and move on, but instead he adapted.
Is a little snow going to stop Jack Chao? No way, buddy. He even told me how he sacrificed his knee and fired up his own car to make that final delivery on Central Campus during the snow day. That is the type of dedication that Duke needs more of from everybody.
Jesse Swanko
Trinity '04
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