GTCC employee of the month Marquita Pratt happy to lend a hand

Published on: March 29, 2022 Marquita Pratt never met a challenge she didn't attack, and she has a forklift certification to prove it.

Pratt is an operations technician for Guilford Technical Community College's campus stores. She continually tackles problems with great zest, always with a smile and amazing demeanor. For her continual positive contributions to GTCC, she has been named the February Employee of the Month by the college's employee of the month committee.

But back to the forklift. Pratt's main goal when she moved into the position was to improve the college's online store operation. But when the physical store was forced to change locations during a major construction operation, a need for a forklift operator arose to keep things running smoothly. It didn't take long for Pratt to complete the GTCC forklift operator certification class and the store didn't miss a beat.

"Marquita was integral in unloading many tractor-trailer loads. Even in the rain, she did it with her usual great smile and 'can do' attitude," Pratt's nominator said. "I think she surprised many of our truck drivers at times and a few of our staff, but she did not surprise us. She embodies the true spirit of Make Amazing Happen!"

The forklift duties never deterred her focus on the main task of improving the efficiency of GTCC's online store operations. Since taking over in her role, she has integrated state contract UPS shipping with the college's eCommerce website partner to expedite shipping and reduced time spent on each order by about five minutes. On the surface that may not seem like a big deal until you consider the college sends out over 6,000 online orders a year from four stores. That equates to roughly 500 hours saved.

She has also implemented and compiled monthly reports on a free shipping initiative during the pandemic to better protect our community and save students thousands of dollars in shipping fees.

When a position was not filled after a retirement, Pratt was asked to fill in to coordinate training for new hires. She attacked the project and now works closely with each new cashier to ensure they are meeting GTCC standards for accuracy in each transaction, online order fulfillment and good customer services. Back to All Articles