Inside Campus Partners

LaShawnta McLaurin
October 2004

LaShawnta McLaurin
Customer Service Representative

LaShawnta McLaurin is a Customer Service Representative with Campus Partners. She has been with the company for nearly two years, and is on the road to becoming a very versatile staff member. She currently works in rotation answering Help Desk calls and responds to customer service calls during peak calling times. She also is being cross-trained to handle borrower calls and process forms so she can provide additional support to customers and borrowers. Having multiple responsibilities within the company is familiar to LaShawnta because as a member of the U.S. Army Reserves, she is quite familiar with the concept of an Army of One.

As a member of the Help Desk team, LaShawnta serves on the “front line of defense” for technical issues. In this role, she re-sets passwords for customers and helps them with technical questions about using WebConnect, System 3i, and eXpressReports. She feels comfortable answering most questions and does not hesitate to escalate any issue that would benefit from additional technical support.

LaShawnta welcomes the opportunity to provide technical support to our customers so she can help them prevent future problems. “Whenever I encounter a customer having problems, I fix the problem first and then I show them how to prevent the problem from re-occurring,” LaShawnta said during her interview. “Although I would gladly answer the same questions from the same customers repeatedly, I want to empower customers so they don’t feel frustrated. I never want a customer to feel inferior by asking for help. I only wish that customers would call us sooner if they need help,” she added.

She is looking forward to more customer contact in the future, as she receives additional training. As a part of a group of employees who are being crossed trained in handling almost all aspects of customer service, she attends class eight to twelve hours a week to learn more about the company. Coming from a more technical perspective, she especially enjoyed Sharon Cameron’s class on the history of student loans and federal regulations. She also enjoyed the training presented by Debbie Fallin who discussed forms processing, Jana Elliott who discussed payment advances, and Patrick Roberson, Vickie Nelson, and Debra Adams who led sessions on handling calls from borrowers.

Although her job sometimes can be stressful, she feels very supported by her coworkers. “If I ever have a question, I know someone in customer service will have an answer. They are always willing to help.” She also added that she enjoys talking to customers, “They are all very nice, even if they are in the midst of asking for help with a technical issue.”

LaShawnta came to the company after graduating from Winston-Salem State University where she majored in psychology. She has a minor is sociology and took courses in computer science while at school. Her past customer service experience includes working in guest services at a local hotel.

Always very goal oriented, LaShawnta joined the Army Reserves when she was in high school. While in the reserves, she went through basic training, attended monthly weekend drills, and spent two weeks each year in training. She trained to be a dental assistant at the military’s School of Health Sciences in Texas, and is attached to the 885th Medical Company in Florence, SC. While in the reserves, she has traveled to South Dakota, Nebraska, Louisiana, and Germany. She feels her military experience has been a positive experience for her as it has taught her discipline and responsibility.

LaShawnta also is very close to her family, who live in Laurinburg, SC, where LaShawnta grew up. Her father is a pastor of a church in Laurinburg, and her mother, who is also a minister, runs a day care center there. She tries to get home as much as possible to see her family. Her sister attends college in Greensboro, NC so they can get together more often. She especially misses her six-year-old brother, who is in elementary school.

LaShawnta is very active in church here in Winston-Salem, where she helps counsel teenagers and tutors elementary school students. She enjoys gospel music and R&B and likes to read a variety of books.