BETHANY POWLS Editor-in-Chief
With a variety of different positions and responsibilities carried out around campus, one of the most inconspicuous, but important, roles is that of the Maintenance Department. On a daily basis, students can see maintenance workers out and about, fixing this and that and generally attending to the upkeep needs of the campus community.
Prior to the start of the academic year, student maintenance workers live on campus in order to clean and sanitize residence halls.
“A typical day cleaning dorms over the summer started around 8 am every morning, and usually ended around 4pm with a 45 minute to 1 hour lunch break. We would usually all meet first thing, to discuss our game plan for the day and what all we needed to accomplish. Each day we would put on gloves and mix together some cleaning supplies and split up to conquer certain areas,” Krista Loomis, senior from Wichita, said.
This year in particular, summer staff took extra care in sanitizing residence halls according to new campus requirements.
“I would say showers took the most work. Some rooms were left in terrible condition with belongings and trash piles that we had to dispose of before we could even start cleaning. Out of some mods, we carried multiple bags of trash out before we could even see surfaces… For extra dirty rooms, it may take all morning almost to take out trash, and we could start cleaning surfaces and vacuuming after lunch. If the mods or rooms weren't too bad, we could probably knock out 2 a day. In each room we had to wipe down desks, dressers, bathroom surfaces, toilets and showers with a pine disinfectant. We used lots of different chemicals on cleaning showers, because the water often left built up mineral deposits on the walls and fixtures. We mopped and waxed floors and shampooed carpet in each building,” Loomis said.
Additional summer maintenance involved landscape upkeep as well.
“We started at 7 in the morning and watered the plants around campus. We filled the Gator with jugs of water, and turned on sprinklers along the way. After that was done, Royce usually had a list of projects that needed to be done so we would start working on those. Towards the end of the summer, we were struggling to keep up with mowing. So, we would water and do projects in the morning, but after lunchtime, we would mow for the rest of the afternoon,” Kayla Newman, junior from Sedgwick, said.
For Royce Flaming, grounds supervisor for the Bethel College Maintenance Department, work doesn’t stop after the summer.
“My day starts at 7:00 a.m. and ends at 3:30 p.m. from Monday through Friday. My daily work involves picking up trash (because people can't seem to find the trash cans), watering plants, picking up branches and leaves, trimming and of course mowing lots of grass,” Flaming said.
Flaming can be often spotted on a lawn mower near residential halls or the Green, and often greets members of the campus with a wave.
“I also try to keep all the lights working around campus, take care of the irrigation systems and also maintain all my equipment. Other than that, I'm just an old groundskeeper trying to keep this campus looking as good as one person can do. I work with a bunch of guys that all do their jobs very well and know this campus from front to back. They maintain all the buildings from the dorms to the Caf to rest rooms, and are able to do what it takes to keep Bethel College going,” Flaming said.
Additionally, students work for the Maintenance Department in order to help manage all of the work that needs to be done.
“Before we got the cleaning service in Haury, I was in charge of taking the trash out, as well as cleaning the showers. Another guy was in charge of the bathrooms and sweeping the floors… Since the cleaning service started, I've been doing more odd jobs like setting different events up and just general cleaning in and around other buildings… I used to clean Haury Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in the afternoon. Now I do the odd jobs whenever they come about, so really I work anytime, including weekends,” Nathaniel Schmucker, junior from Geossel, said.
If you are interested in doing maintenance work or you just need assistance with something maintenance-related, workers can be found on the northeast corner of campus, just on the other side of the Krehbiel Science Center.
