Busy As Ever

This past Tuesday, my self-guided tour began on the south side of the creek at the physical plant facility where I ran into Bryan Voltz, whose job description is “plumber” but should actually be “jack of all trades.”

 

Bryan, a familiar figure on the school's fleet of heavy equipment, had just replaced the oil filter on one of the stand-up lawn mowers.

 

“I’d rather ride them than fix them,” he said with a smile. “Actually, we’re getting a new tractor. Our 20-something year-old tractor has gone kaput. The new one will be here tomorrow morning. I’m really looking forward to that. It’s a John Deere. Same as we had. Just a newer model. With air conditioning and heat so when it’s winter we won’t freeze pushing the snow, which is a good thing.”

 

“So what’s been going on with most of the students gone?” I asked.

 

“We’ve been really busy,” Bryan replied. “We put a bunch of water fountains with bottle fillers on them in the Upper School. Took days to put them in. We have a lot of other projects that we do in house. Leon (Brown) is painting everything. Sam (Simpson) and Thomas (Jones) are busy on the air conditioning.”

 

“So the place doesn’t sleep?” I commented.

 

“Not at all,” he said. “It’s busier in the summer than in the winter, work-wise, but that’s OK.”

 

About that time, Wilbur Athey, special events and projects supervisor, walked up, and I asked him about the summer goings-on.

 

“Busy as ever,” he said. “Things never stop. We’re doing some work in the dance studio. A lot of furniture moving. Teachers are moving to different classrooms. Without the kids here, you can get in and do a lot of stuff earlier and get it knocked out. We’re on target.”

 

“So we’ll be ready to start when we need to be?” I asked.

 

“Yes, we will,” he said with the absolute assurance of a man who’s been at Collegiate only, oh, 35 years.

 

Next, I visited assistant director of facilities Robert Moore, who was sitting at his computer prepping for a Wednesday supervisors’ meeting to sketch out the plan of action in the coming weeks.

 

“So what’s on the docket?” I asked.

 

“Working on projects,” he said. “Painting. We have new stair treads installed in the North and South Science Buildings. We have carpet going in a lot of rooms. We’re turning the old serving line in Burke Hall into a classroom. It’ll be a math lab. New carpet in the tennis house out at Robins is ongoing. We’ve contracted it out, but we have to make sure it gets done on time and on budget.

 

“On time and on budget,” I said. “Those are magic words, aren’t they?”

 

“Time is critical here,” he replied. “Everything needs to get done before school starts. Not but so many hours in the day, and you have to work around all the camps. It’s a typical summer: lots of camps, lots of work, lots of coordination. It’s always nice to see the kids leave in June. It’s also nice to see them come back in August.

 

At the far southeast corner of the campus, I encountered junior kindergarten teacher Tia Owen as she watched 11of the youngest Cougars do their thing on the JK playground.

 

“They’re here for a week learning about Collegiate and getting a feel for the campus,” she explained. “They’re going to the dining room. They’re meeting different people around campus. Yesterday, they visited the art room and the music room. Today, they played on the football field and met the Golden Cougar.”

 

The week is an optional program enabling the 4-year-olds to acclimate to their new home away from home. Next week, 18 kids will participate.

“I love their energy and innocence and excitement about school and learning,” Tia said. “I just love that no two days are ever the same. I love their happiness and joy.”

 

As we talked, the kids frolicked on the playground, seemingly oblivious to the late-morning heat.

 

“Kids this age don’t notice things like hot weather, do they?” I commented.

 

“They don’t,” Tia replied. “They’re just happy to make new friends.”

 

My last stop was at the Luck Hall office of Collin McConaghy, who for six years has served as director of Summer Quest.

 

He reported that there will be roughly 175 camps during the 11-week session. Approximately 1,300 individuals will fill about 3,000 spots.

 

“We have sports camps,” he said, “and academic enrichment, art, a little bit of everything: 3-D printing, electronic game design, Hooked on Books, sewing. (STEAM coordinator) Dan Bartels is doing a lot with virtual reality, so we’ve really upped our STEAM offerings.”

 

“So it’s going well?” I asked.

 

“Campers are having a good time,” he said. “Teachers are having a good time. Knock on wood, all has gone well. Great summer.”

   -- Weldon Bradshaw