As people drive onto the Mississippi University for Women campus, they are often met by Art Reyes’ friendly demeanor and smiling face as he waves them through.

Some will often stop to talk to Reyes at the security booth on College Street before they drive through and recount to him stories of their weekend or tell him about a project they are working on.

Reyes is a father of four college-aged and older children, and he has been a dispatcher at the W since September 2016. He says he has loved every second of it. He likes to meet new people, help the college students and greet all of the dogs that pass through.

“My favorite part about working here is the friendships,” Reyes said. “I get to be a mentor to the kids who come in and might be far from home. If they need help, I can be that friend or fatherly figure to them. I also really love the dogs that come by. When people are walking their dogs through the neighborhood, they’ll stop by, and I’ll give them a treat.”

When he began at the W, he mentioned to one of his coworkers that he always wanted to go to college, but he never took the ACT, so it was out of the question. However, when the pandemic hit, the W waived the ACT requirement for new students, and Reyes was given a chance.

“I get two free classes a semester, so I’m slowly working towards my bachelor of arts with a major in communication and a minor in film,” Reyes said. “I always wanted to be able to say I’ve gone to college, and I can say that now. I’m in psychology right now and have a 4.0. The class I’m most worried about is math. It’s been 35 years since I graduated high school and took a math class.”

Reyes found his way to Columbus from Corpus Christi, Texas, a little more than 20 years ago in his pursuit of love.

Reyes met his now wife, Colleen, in an AOL chatroom on February 12, 2000 where they talked about the Peanuts comic creator Charles Schulz, who passed away that day. Colleen, who had lived in Columbus since she was four, went to Texas to meet Art, who at the time was working at the Nueces County Jail.

“I told her I didn’t have much money, and I didn’t have a car and she still made her way down to Corpus,” Reyes recalled fondly. “She called and said she was in Houston, which is only about two to three hours away, but I was supposed to work that night. I called my supervisor and explained the woman I was talking to would be there that night instead of tomorrow and he let me take off.”

Reyes remembers going to the convenience store nearby and getting hot dogs, hot dogs buns, chili, cheese, Diet Coke and Cool Ranch Doritos, and that was the couple’s first meal together.

“We still have it from time to time,” Reyes said.

On his second trip to Columbus, Reyes moved with all his belongings that could fit in Colleen’s two-door Honda Civic. The San Antonio native mostly finds himself missing home when he wants authentic Mexican food, but Columbus makes up for it in the community he has found for himself.

Reyes said his favorite part about the Friendly City is Friendship Cemetery, and it is one of the places he first visited with Colleen when he moved here.

“For some reason, I’ve always found peace at cemeteries,” Reyes said. “Whenever we go, we always visit and say hello to Miss Sinclair, who was 17 when she passed away in childbirth. It’s always, ‘Hello, Miss Sinclair,’ and, ‘Have a good day, Miss Sinclair.’”

When Reyes finds free time, he is an avid pen collector and shows off his pens on TikTok.

“For my birthday, Colleen got me one of the pens I’ve been longing for,” Reyes said. “It’s a Montblanc StarWalker. She won’t tell me how much she got it for, but I know they start at about $350. I had a friend pressure me into getting a TikTok, and I was reluctant because I had all of the other social media, but now TikTok has taken over. I show my pen collection, and sometimes give a daily dad-joke.”