Spring is here! It is finally the time of year when the GC campus is at its peak beauty. Students’ social media feeds are flooded with photos throughout GC, from the front campus lawn to the fountain area. Students love utilizing their time on campus to enjoy the warm spring air, especially with finals right around the corner.
“Finals can be such a stressful time for all GC students,” says Madison Wright, a junior early education major. “Being able to go on walks around campus with my friends or sit in front of campus—it’s so soothing just to see all the fantastic flowers and greenery on campus in our everyday lives as students.”
While our campus’ beauty is something students and faculty can rave about, some underrated heroes are responsible for keeping our campus as beautiful as it is. The dedicated maintenance team is constantly at work, ensuring our campus is always front-page worthy. They deal with debris removal around campus, trimming the shrubs and trees, and even maintaining the outdoor furniture. The Facilities Management team is why the GC community enjoys discussing and showing off the GC campus daily.
“Everywhere you go on campus, you’ll see someone from the facilities management team go by on a lawn mower, cleaning up the plants or just genuinely always working so hard,” says Ella Bowen, a freshman marketing major. “They are also so kind. If you walk by, they wave, tell you good morning and ask about your day. They are always so happy, and seeing them on campus makes my day.”
The team is working day in and day out to ensure our campus is in pristine condition. Some of their many duties include mulching and fertilizing the plants, pest and weed control, cleaning the storm drains, irrigation repairs, and even repairs for vandalism and graffiti. Their goal is to keep the campus as sustainable as possible. They also try to recycle and reuse materials around campus as often as possible.
It’s not only the community of GC or Milledgeville that notices the beauty of our campus, but also one of the first things many campus visitors hear about. Whether these newcomers are thinking about attending GC or just visiting a loved one, the beautiful campus is one of the major talking points of the city.
“They [the facilities management team] are definitely the unsung heroes of campus,” says Emma Brown, a freshman education major. “When my family or friends come to visit, the one thing they always talk about is how beautiful our campus is. My mom loves taking 5,000 photos of campus. I’m so proud of it and love showing off that I go here.”
With the end of the semester a mere few weeks away, students are preparing for finals and stressing about finishing the spring semester on a high note. Having a beautiful campus to spend time on can make for a good stress reliever. Whether taking a study break to go on a walk with friends, having a picnic on the front campus or even taking the day to study outside, one thing is certain. It is on beautiful spring days when life at GC looks like a scene straight out of a college coming-of-age film.
So next time you are on front campus, whether taking your dog for a walk, hanging out with your friends, playing football, throwing a frisbee, or even studying while spending some time outside. If somebody comes past, you trim the bushes or cut the grass, even on their way to work on something in the building. Make sure you take a moment to thank GC, the amazing maintenance team, for all the hard work they put into our beautiful Georgia College and State University Campus.
