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<\/p>\nOn the first day of the 2026-27 school year, Kimberly Durham celebrated nearly two and a half decades of service at Miami University \u2013 24 years on Aug. 24, to be exact.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She\u2019s dedicated many years to caring for Miami students, either serving food in dining halls or ensuring residence halls are comfortable and clean.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But it is also two decades worth of building relationships and community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since 2002, students have called Durham \u201cMs. Kim,\u201d while she refers to students as \u201cmy kids.\u201d She\u2019s been a listening ear to struggling first-semester students and a safe ride home to upperclassmen from Uptown.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Durham grew up about 20 minutes from Oxford, across the border, in the small town of Liberty, Indiana.<\/p>\n
As a child, she enjoyed spending time on Brookville Lake and in the woods with her friends and family. Durham said she valued the connectivity that accompanied her hometown.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI love where I grew up,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s beautiful out there. Everybody was in the same clique, so it was a nice area to grow up in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Durham graduated high school in 1986, then attended cosmetology school in 1990. She married her husband Shane in 1999. They had three sons: Trynt, Josh and Clay.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Once they began having children, the pair knew they wanted their kids to attend college. Durham joined Miami\u2019s staff in 2002, largely because of the tuition waiver for full-time employees\u2019 children.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For more than 10 years, Durham worked in the now-closed Haines Food Court in Shriver Center. She\u2019s now a building grounds associate (BGA) for Hepburn and McFarland residence halls.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Each morning, Durham arrives on campus around 6 a.m. She calls this hour her \u201cquiet time,\u201d using it to decompress, watch Netflix or browse social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At 7:30 a.m., she clocks in, getting straight to work by taking out the trash and cleaning the kitchen area of her dorms. Next, she heads to her designated floors, the first and the basement.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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She tackles the hardest job first: the boys\u2019 bathroom. She refills toilet paper and paper towels then wipes down the countertops and mirrors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For floors and shower walls, Durham uses her KaiVac, which she\u2019s named \u201cKyle.\u201d A KaiVac combines the power of a pressure washer with the cleaning capabilities of a vacuum, helping Durham remove deposits from hard surfaces.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just get out that machine, spray [the deposit], and suck it up,\u201d Durham said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have to come in contact with it, so I love \u2018Kyle the KaiVac.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Each bathroom requires about an hour\u2019s worth of work, but Durham always adds a little extra. She says her manager often confronts her for buying cleaning supplies with personal money.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m one of those people that if I mop the floors, I want it to smell like the floor had just been mopped.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\n Kimberly Durham (left), Taylor Frendt Kervin and daughter (middle) and Becky Bach (right) reunite as Kervin is a former Miami student employee. Bach is a BGA in Brandon Hall.\n <\/p>\n
Durham also often buys candies and treats for her residents, who she says are her favorite part of the job.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Students and resident assistants (RAs) return Durham\u2019s appreciation by decorating the outside of her supply closet. Durham has over 10 years worth of name tags, thank-you notes and coloring pages on display.<\/p>\n
Student relationships with Durham don\u2019t end with thank-you cards. She\u2019s kept in contact with a plethora of students over her 24 years at Miami.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Every few weeks, Durham catches up with Collin Boucher (\u201814), a former Miami linebacker. Boucher lived in Hepburn Hall with the football team while Durham was the BGA.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\n Collin Boucher (left) with Kimberly Durham (right).\n <\/p>\n
She also regularly speaks with former students Anna Wells and Julien Griffith, calling both girls her \u201cadopted daughters.\u201d Wells (\u201822) was an RA in Flower Hall. Griffith (\u201819) lived in McFarland Hall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\n Anna Wells (left) worked with Kimberly Durham (right) as an RA in Hepburn Hall.\n <\/p>\n
Wells travels to Oxford once or twice a year to visit Durham. Durham has also traveled to Michigan to reconnect with Griffith.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Anna Wells (left) worked with Kimberly Durham (right) as an RA in Hepburn Hall. Photo provided by Kimberly Durham.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Durham even formed close relationships with international students from China. In December 2010, Carrot Bu and Rita Ma stayed with Durham and her family before flying to Los Angeles for winter break.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The bond between the trio remains intact as Bu and Ma are both Miami Mergers and have remained in the United States. Durham stays up to date with Bu and Ma\u2019s lives and children through social media.<\/p>\n
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\n Kimberly Durham (left), Rita Ma (middle) and Carrot Bu (right) at Durham\u2019s home in December 2010.\n <\/p>\n
Kimberly Durham (left), Rita Ma (middle) and Carrot Bu (right) at Durham\u2019s home in December 2010. Photo provided by Kimberly Durham.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cody Powell, associate vice president of Facilities Planning and Operations, says that Durham\u2019s intricate care for her students is not atypical.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of our custodial folks feel an obligation to look after the students, almost like a parent,\u201d Powell said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nanci Jones, building director of Hepburn Hall, has worked closely with Durham for six years now. The pair meets multiple times per week to address issues in the building. Jones has witnessed Durham\u2019s commitment to Hepburn residents firsthand, and said her devotion is unmatched.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s more than doing her routine custodial work,\u201d Jones said. \u201cShe really does her job with concern, caring about the state of the hall in which the kids are living, but most importantly, she cares about the kids.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Durham brightens the halls of Hepburn with her warm greetings, asking students about their classes, organizations and sports. She always tries to find ways she can connect with them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Kim truly is the heart of Hepburn,\u201d Jones said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Outside of caring for her residents, Durham also cares for her two grandchildren, Levi, 7, and Lachlynn, 8, while their father, Trynt, works as the emergency dispatcher for Miami University Police Department.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With their grandchildren, Durham and her husband enjoy coloring, swimming and going on bike rides. They also spend time together on Brookville Lake.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With seven more years until retirement, Durham already has plans for her next chapter. She and her husband want to move to Nokomis Beach, Florida to be near her sister and extended family.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Until then, she will continue to care for her students in ways that far exceed expectations.\u00a0<\/p>\n