Dedication Behind the Scenes

Really strange, for sure. Surreal, even. Very bizarre.

 

This past Wednesday, with the dog days of summer upon us, I walked the sidewalks and hallways of Collegiate’s North Mooreland Road campus, checking out the work underway and checking in with some old friends whom I hadn’t seen, except on Zoom, since before Spring Break.

 

Much has changed in the world (and at Collegiate) since the mid-March shutdown, but the buildings and landscape certainly didn’t go anywhere and, thankfully, the folks I encountered on my self-guided, behind-the-scenes tour remain solid, steadfast, and dedicated to providing the safest environment for the day we return, albeit with guidelines that a few months earlier would have seemed hard to imagine.

 

My first stop – to fulfill one of those guidelines, actually – was the business office where I met James Bandy, Collegiate’s director of campus safety and security, for a temperature check. A reading of 98.1 was my ticket to continue, but before I ventured on, I spoke with Bandy, a retired Henrico County police officer, about his less-than-serene past few months.

 

Is there a 25-words-or-less way to describe what you’ve been doing lately? I asked.

 

His smile was apparent, despite his mask.

 

“Typically, summer is a time to catch up from the school year and get projects done,” he said. “This summer, however, has been quite busy planning the re-opening strategy for school in the fall. I’m working with a team daily putting strategies together and policies and procedures in place so students can return to school.”

 

“So, every question that’s generated from our committee generates 10 more questions and things to consider,” he replied. “That’s been a challenge. Not being able to meet in person sometimes presents challenges. Making decisions based on COVID- related guidance from state and federal guidelines has been difficult. Things change on a daily basis, and we have to pivot and change or modify our decisions.”

 

I next ran into Ralph Apicella, who in early June resumed his job sorting mail and parcels and delivering them around campus.

 

“This is the time of year when a lot of boxes are getting shipped in,” he said. “We’re mailing a lot of things out to the students. All that’s kept me busy.”

 

So it’s business as usual for Ralph, except…

 

“Everybody’s skeptical about what’s going to happen,” he said. “We know we’re going to open school up. Collegiate is very organized, very up-to-date about what’s going on with this virus.”

 

In Flippen Hall, I encountered Joan Hamlin, a dedicated stalwart of the housekeeping staff.

 

“Detailing the building,” she responded. “Working on the walls, windows, floors. We’ll get the dirt out of the way, and then they’ll come in and sanitize everything. It’s not that different from what we normally do.”

 

I next ran into Tyrone Branch and Jackie Johnson, also vital members of our housekeeping staff who on this day were shoring up Pitt Hall.

 

“My main job is housekeeping,” Tyrone said, “but whatever they ask us to do, we try our best to get it done. We’ve been here every day since Memorial Day. We just go with the flow. It’s good to be working.”

 

Jackie came on board in 1985 and readily admits that she’s never had a summer like this one.

 

“Especially when there’re no kids around,” she said. “We’re cleaning, detailing, doing windows, getting places I couldn’t get when kids are in the building, helping out where I’m asked to go. We miss seeing the kids. The energy they bring is not here. I have to bring my own energy, and we feed off each other.”

 

Next up was Dave Sherman, the director of network services who I encountered, moving quickly as usual, outside the South Science Building.

 

What’s different this summer? I asked.

 

“We’ve had to come up with some alternate plans for audio-visual for classrooms,” Dave said, referencing the reconfiguration that will occur to ensure social distancing. “And some of the spaces they’re planning for instruction don’t currently have wireless access, so we have to add some access points to cover those areas.

 

“We have to work around some of the upgrades that we’re doing this summer. We’re replacing our firewall. We’re upgrading our internet speed to accommodate remote learning using video conferencing like Zoom. That will result in some network outages, so we have to plan those carefully so we don’t interrupt people’s ability to work remotely.”

 

“Summer is our busiest time anyway,” Dave responded. “Normally, we would be doing our summer upgrades and deployment of new computers to faculty. We’re still doing that, but our tasks are a little different because of the change in plans.”

 

“Yep,” he replied with a smile.

 

My final stop of the morning was the Hershey Center where I encountered Kate Parthemos, the fine arts assistant who handles much of the in-person logistics for the performing and visual arts departments.

 

 

“This is my week to clean out and purge and organize the costume closet because it will be used as an office,” she said. “I’ll send any costumes we purge to other schools or a thrift shop or Goodwill: somebody that can use them. I’ll also be sewing some curtains to divide up our spaces to use for classrooms.”

 

“Working from home, she said. “A lot more Zoom calls. Mostly hunkering down. My yard looks better than it ever has.”

 

“Yes,” she said, “and it’s good to be here.”

~ Weldon Bradshaw