When George Lambert makes his rounds around the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, garbage is the last thing on his mind.

To Newhouse students, Lambert is just as much a part of the buildings as the timeless photographs hanging on the walls. Wearing his everyday uniform of a Syracuse sweatshirt, baseball hat and Jordan sneakers, and pushing two garbage cans on rolling wheels, the man has almost become a Newhouse icon. Whether sitting in Food.com, working in a computer lab or on the way to and from class, it is hard to go 10 minutes without seeing Lambert.

Sam Maller | Staff Photographer

George Lambert is often recognized by his Syracuse sweatshirts, basesball caps, and Jordan sneakers.

Lambert knows that his janitorial job is only temporary. He knows that one day, when he leaves Syracuse University, it will not be as a janitor.

It will be as a photographer.

**

For years, Lambert did not know what his future would hold.

After a crash threw him from a motorcycle and cracked his skull open at age 15, Lambert knew that his life would never be the same –– his father died shortly after the accident. So with little support from the rest of his family, the Liverpool, N.Y. teenager had to try to salvage his life.

“I went through rough times and it took a lot to come back,” Lambert said. “I had trouble thinking. I did not have a lot of support and it was really hard to cope with all of it.”

Before he was 20 years old, Lambert had already recovered from his accident, moved out of his house and began working at Wegmans. He spent 25 years there before leaving to pursue an education.

Because of his accident, Lambert did not have the opportunity to complete high school. Getting his GED diploma was the first step. He then began taking classes at Onondaga Community College. His love for art and working with his hands led him to work with sculpture and revisit his love for photography, Lambert said.

After two years at OCC, Lambert’s former counselor helped him secure a job at SU working with the treatment plant. What may have seemed like an unattractive job to some was all he needed.

Seven years later, Lambert has taken advantage of a staff benefit that allows him take classes at SU. Lambert is now taking classes in the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ art photography program and hopes to graduate in the next three or four years.

With this job, Lambert knew he was being given a chance.

**

Patience.

That’s the one word that those close to Lambert unanimously say describes him more than anything else.

His friends around school admire him for his cheerful and childlike demeanor, his perseverance and his passion that has driven him since he started working at SU seven years ago.

Johanna Keller, director of the arts journalism program in Newhouse, and a friend of Lambert, said she believes Lambert exemplifies these qualities because he is constantly pushing against his own capacity.

“Our human happiness and our achievement in life are measured, not by what our capacity is, but by the extent to which we have pushed it,” Keller said.

Sam Maller | Staff Photographer

Johanna Keller, director of the arts journalism department in Newhouse, takes a picture of her friend Lambert during a photoshoot in Light Work Community Darkrooms.

Keller is one of Lambert’s many friends who help him with his class assignments by posing for portraits. She said she is admittedly horrible in front of the camera, but something about sitting in front of Lambert puts her at ease.

Not everybody takes the opportunity to get to know Lambert simply because they don’t take the time to, said Keller. If they did, they would understand why she believes he is so special.

“He’s inspiring,” Keller said. “George is really an enlightened person. He’s someone who knows how to focus. There’s nothing more important in life than knowing how to focus.”

When Penelope Vasquez, a photography major and an employee at Light Work Community Darkroom, first started working with Lambert, she knew that she would need patience. Lambert has trouble understanding concepts the same way that everyone else does.

Much like members of the Newhouse community, employees at Light Work have grown accustomed to Lambert’s presence. He seemingly spends as much time talking to the people around him as he does on his work. Vasquez has often seen people either not help Lambert, or even avoid him altogether.

“People don’t understand,” Vasquez said. “He lives by himself, he takes the bus, he’s always on his phone. He’s normal. He can do everything you can do. You just need patience.”

Monday through Friday, Lambert walks the hallways of Newhouse, changing garbage bags, cleaning bathrooms and watching as students pass by. During a nine-hour cleaning shift, patience is incredibly valuable.

From waiting outside a bathroom until everybody leaves, to waiting until a professor leaves his or her office for the night, Lambert spends a lot of time waiting.

But patience and perseverance are not unfamiliar to him. The man that, 40 years ago, couldn’t imagine ever going back to school, is now looking forward to a life afterward.

For Lambert, graduation is all he can look forward to. With hopes of eventually being a photographer in a major U.S. city, he realizes that the road to his dream job will not be easy.

“I know that sometimes you can’t be a photographer at first,” he said. “I will have to start out as a photographer’s assistant who sets up equipment and stuff like that, and work my way up from there.”

Like everyone else, Lambert has something that is driving him, a dream he hopes comes true. Along with success and happiness, there is something that he wants that drives him every day.

“Some day when I make it big, I want a big-a** TV so everyone can see my photos really big on screen,” he said.

Until then, Lambert will keep working: arriving just after 1 p.m. and staying until his work is done. But one thing is for sure — when the man in the Syracuse sweatshirt leaves Newhouse for the last time at 10 p.m., it will be with a smile on his face.

Published on April 29, 2014 at 2:03 am