Two men started their careers at the University in 2007, and campus life has never been the same. One of them was President Michael Roth ’78; the other was Matt Combe. A Bon Appétit employee for over 17 years, Combe currently works as a Weshop receiver, but also wears numerous other hats as a licensed real estate agent, startup entrepreneur, and union steward.

In between traveling the world and raising bees and chickens at home, The Argus sat down with Combe for an interview, during which the Middletown local spoke fondly of his connections to both the University and the city. 

The Argus: To start off, tell us more about what you do here, at Wesleyan and beyond. 

Matt Combe: I’ve been here since 2007. I graduated high school a half year early and started working here while I was going to college. I’ve done a lot of jobs around here. You’ve caught me while I’m at Weshop doing receiving work there. Other than that, I have my real estate license. I have a couple properties that I rent out to people. Sometimes I try to put Wesleyan students in there to help out a little bit. And then we—me and my wife—have a storage business called WeStash It that helps with students as well. So [my work is] a little all over the place, but [I’m] trying to keep it all contained into this little microcosm of Middletown.

A: You being all over the place is part of the reason why I wanted to interview you. It’s been 17 years since you started working here. Wow!

MC: Yeah, time flies. I started working here part-time. I got my bachelor’s degrees in accounting and finance. I met my wife at Wesleyan, so it’s been such a nice little arena to really build a life that’s in Middletown, but also [to have] the summers off. Every time you guys go on break, we get a break. So we’ve been able to kind of travel the world and build our relationship up just as best friends.

A: That’s awesome. You’ve been working in Bon Appétit throughout the 17 years?

MC: Before [Bon Appétit came on, there] was Aramark. In the beginning, I was actually a student worker [at Aramark] when I was at Middletown High School. When Aramark left, all the students lost their jobs, but Bon Appétit came in and hired a bunch of people, so I was a part of that initial group. Bon Appétit has been on campus the whole time, so I’ve never had to switch any management, which is nice. When I was in school, I was doing Late Night. Then I did Mongolian for years. Actually, my mom [worked at Mongolian], so if anybody who graduated years ago reads The Argus, they’re gonna know Sue from Mongolian. 

A: Awesome.

MC: What’s nice with the way our union’s set up is if somebody calls out, I can fill in and do other jobs. You’re not just stuck doing one thing for like 50 years, which is kind of nice. You can move around. I think I’ve held probably nine or ten different positions on campus. It’s versatile. Some jobs are more intense than others, but I’ve always liked the jobs where I’m working along with students. And it’s just super cool, too, because you see students when they come in as freshmen. So you kind of have that empathy, like “Oh, been there, done that.” And now you see them [coming in as juniors and seniors], they’re in their senior housing, they’re coming in after partying. It’s just a nice little transition. 

A: I’m sure Middletown and Wesleyan have changed a lot. I remember reading from the old newspapers that Late Night used to be at Usdan instead of Summerfields. Over the years, what is the biggest change you’ve observed?

MC: I have to do the throwback to MoCon [McConaughey Hall]. When I was in high school, I was working at MoCon. And the atmosphere was just insane. It was like a big open area where people would come up at the top of the stairs and they would just do their chants and announcements like “Party on Lawn” and stuff like that. It was kind of my whole childhood. So that’s probably like a big change to me. And now they’re building a nice big building over here. As somebody who focuses on real estate—like the solar panels they did down there—Wesleyan just kind of elevates the town a little bit to like bring it into the future a little bit.

A: Do you think the campus culture and the culture of this town has changed over the years?

MC: I’d say the culture has obviously evolved to meet more inclusivity amongst the youth, like international students, for example. But I’ve also seen the [decline] of protesting. We’ve seen some stuff with the protests around Israel and Palestine, but there used to be sit-ins all the time. Now I guess if you chalk you can get points. When I was in high school, kids would go sit in the president’s office and, you know, it was just more of a counterculture thing. Where now it’s more so just like an inclusivity, working through-it-all, instead of that radical kind of protest. But I would say it’s for the better in the sense that you’re not getting “Who’s the loudest,” but instead a “Hey, let’s all be a collective.”

A: Talking about organizing, can you tell us more about your experience being in the union?

MC: Currently, I’m a union steward. We have a contract that runs for a five-year span, so every five years we have to negotiate. And this past contract we did really well. The University hires Bon Appétit, and Bon Appétit negotiates for us, but the University pushes whoever is here—whether Bon Appétit, Aramark, Sodexo—the agenda of what they want to see. And this last round of negotiations that we went through, we saw good cost-of-living wages increase, benefits increase, [and] sick time increase, kind of. 

I started working in the union at 18 years old. [It gave me] better wages than a normal job that’s not in the union. So in that time, I’ve been able to acquire my own home, acquire an investment property, travel the world with my wife. It’s just given me the flexibility to really venture out and do other things, like the many hats I wear. Without the union, I don’t think the quality of life that I’ve been able to enjoy with it would be the same. I’m a big proponent of union labor. I think anybody who has the opportunity to join the union [should]. The first couple years, there’s hiccups in anything, but once you get the ball rolling and you kind of understand the system and the benefits that it provides, it’s essential in the world we’re growing up in.

A: Did you and your wife meet at Wesleyan?

MC: Yes! I used to work with her father at MoCon. My wife was here as a student worker at first, and one of our managers would always put her as my student worker. So little flirtations here and there, you know. Like I said, she’s just my best friend. We get along so much. And she’s actually a cashier at Weshop as well. Now we’ve backpacked Europe and are thinking about starting a family of our own—we both would love to see a little one of each other walking around. 

A: You talked about traveling the world, but I know you also have a little garden and coop, right?

MC: Yeah. The garden is kind of coming to an end because it’s fall here, but I’ve got my bees that I raise. I’ve got some chickens. We have three cats. We have a dog. It’s a handful, but I like to say to them, “You’re special and unique just like every other one of you.”

For me, it’s like a labor of love. I love going down, seeing the coop, and it’s a nice little getting away from all the hustle and bustle and stress of life. If we have an abundance [of eggs and honey], we’ll give some to some family, some friends as little Christmas favors and gifts here and there. The little things we do in the yard just bring a lot of joy and give you that serenity.

A: That’s sweet, literally and figuratively. Now onto WeStash It.

MC: It really all started when I was working Mongolian, and one of the sweetest student workers we had was upset at the time because she had originally planned to store her stuff with some friends, and the friends bailed on her. And I said, “Just give them to me, I’ll just put them in one of the spare bedrooms. When you come back, I’ll just bring them back to you.” When she came back, she said, “I told some friends, and some of [them] want to do this next year.”

So in 2015 we registered the business. We got insurance. I was like, “What if something happens to people’s stuff?” and I wanna be legit. We have a whole facility, and we try to keep it as cost effective as possible. It really just snowballed from there; we’ve been doing it for almost 10 years now, and every year we have been growing, and it’s just me and my wife. We want it to be fun for us and fun for the students, but if you get too big in any business, it gets complicated. 

A: What do you think sets WeStash It apart from other and bigger storage firms?

MC: We don’t spam—it’s word-of-mouth advertising, a family affair kind of thing. You’re gonna be dealing with me or my wife and we take pride in having that connection with people and being understanding of the stresses that you guys are going through, because we’ve been there too. Having that kind of connection I think is what WeStash It is about and why we’ve done it for so long. And it just seems that the people we deal with appreciate it, and their parents are over the moon about it because they don’t have to come from California to help pack up and move stuff. 

A: That’s beautiful, what you say about building connections. 

MC: And also, you know, during the two days of actual move-out and move-in, it’s hectic, crazy, and chaotic. Keeping [our business] small, you’re able to stop and say, “Wait a second, this person needs some help.” Or add some laughter in the moment. When you have a bigger company come in, you know, the people at the top are making a lot of money. This goes back to another reason why unions are important. The people who are making the money for that person or owners are not being treated the best.

A: Is building connections important in your real estate work too?

MC: Yeah. When I started looking for a home, I think I was 25, and some of the agents didn’t take me seriously, so I started looking at it like, “Okay, I can’t be the only one who’s struggling to be taken seriously,” so I got my real estate license at night while I was working at Wesleyan. A lot of my friends come up, and because I have an accounting and finance background I can sit down with them, talk the financial aspects of it all, and give them advice on [whether a house] is a good fit for [them].

A: Last few questions: what’s your favorite dining spot on campus?

MC: I’m a pastry kind of guy, so I would go to Pi Café. 

A: Favorite building on campus?

MC: I have to do Russell House just because the history…it has a checkered past for sure. I’m a big history person. 

A: One building you don’t like?

MC: Coming from moving experience, I don’t like the Butts [Butterfield Colleges]. There’s no good way to get into them.

A: One thing you want to say to students? This is your chance to be famous!

MC: Make as many friends as you possibly can, because those relationships are what’s gonna matter in the next 10, 20, 30 years.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sida Chu can be reached at schu@wesleyan.edu.