The ice on Lake Andrews has melted and the last piles of snow are almost gone. Which means it’s go time for the �ֲ���ý groundskeepers. But what goes into waking up the campus from hibernation? 

A lot, apparently, and they’re not just doing spring work, either. There’s some leftover tasks from the fall, like raking up leaves that eluded the team’s best efforts, got covered in snow, and now have reappeared.

Which means that folks like Jeremy Lavertu and his fellow members of the Facility Services grounds and maintenance team spend most of their time outside these days. Which is not too bad, he says.

Lavertu is a grounds and maintenance lead who focuses on campus horticulture. “The work makes me happy,” he says. “I like the trees and the plants and the flowers — and the camaraderie of the people around me helps a lot.”

Each fall, as Lavertu explains, it’s a race to get as many leaves off the ground as possible before the first snow storm comes to campus. And each spring, it’s another race to clean up the campus and get it looking sharp, with a focus on Commencement in May.

In the fall, it’s all hands on deck. With rakes, shovels, backpack leaf blowers, and the fondly dubbed “suck wagon” used to literally suck up fallen leaves, the dozen or so members of the grounds and maintenance team, who are led by manager Mike Fox, fan out across campus to get the grounds ready for winter.

Lavertu estimates they pick up over 240 cubic yards of leaves every fall, which is far too much for campus use, including composting, so the groundskeepers send most loads of leaves to a city-owned quarry on the River Road south of town.

Now it’s spring cleanup time. In recent days, groundskeepers wielding power brooms have scoured campus walks to remove the sand that made the walkways safe in the ice and snow. There are also flower beds that need tending and tree branches and trash to clean up (oh, all those face coverings).

Then there’s the grass. With the ongoing renovation of Dana Chemistry Hall disrupting foot traffic on both sides of the building — on Alumni Walk and the Historic Quad — some grassy areas have been trod over, creating patchy sections that need to be re-grown in addition to the usual bare spots along walkways where winter plows have taken their toll.

The re-seeding process is three-fold. First, groundskeepers aerate the soil that will be seeded. On Wednesday, that was lead groundkeeper Mike Adams’ job as he maneuvered a Kubota tractor with an AERO-vator attachment around the birches on Alumni Walk.

After the soil was aerated, others followed with walk-behind Anderson broadcast spreaders filled with a three-way mix of grass seed: a fescue blend, for its heat and drought tolerance; fast-germinating perennial ryegrass; and winter-hardy Kentucky bluegrass that’s good at self-repairing damage done by traffic or disease.

Then loam, which is a mix of sand, silt, and clay valued for its capacity to hold moisture while still draining easily, was spread over the seed. Finally, up went stakes and orange flags as a visual reminder: Don’t walk on the grass! 

Even the healthy carpets of grass need sprucing up, which is accomplished by raking through the grass, loosening up the plants and the topsoil, and letting them breathe the fresh spring air.

“I think that helps significantly,” says Lavertu. “My friend, Adam, he said to me, ‘The grass likes when you run a comb through its hair.'”

While those patchy areas of re-seeded grass should be avoided, there are plenty of spots on campus to lounge in the sun, feel the spring breeze, or enjoy the little purple Scilla blooms peeping up out of the green.

Each year, the graduating class at �ֲ���ý elects a member of the faculty or staff to speak at Baccalaureate, held the day before graduation.

This year’s speaker was Francisco “Franky” Urueta, a member of the college’s Facility Services staff.

Well-known at �ֲ���ý, Urueta is a custodian who works the late-evening shift in one of �ֲ���ý’ busiest academic buildings, Pettengill Hall, where he always makes time to greet students with a kind word and his signature fist bumps.

Video by Theophil Syslo

As Multifaith Chaplain Brittany Longsdorf said in her introduction at Baccalaureate, Urueta is “living proof that the smallest kind gesture can transform someone’s day, someone’s entire college experience, and someone’s life.”

An Apache Native American, Urueta used his address to talk about his path from California to Maine, and he urged the seniors “to give positive energy to people” so that “they give you positive energy back.”

Baccalaureate Address by Franky Urueta on May 25, 2019

In a national recycling competition among 167 U.S. colleges, �ֲ���ý earned top-30 rankings for successfully minimizing waste and diverting waste from landfills.

, held during February and March, encourages colleges and universities to reduce and reuse their waste.

�ֲ���ý placed 12th out of 169 schools nationally for Food Organics, a measure of how much food waste is donated, composted, or otherwise diverted; and 28th out of 171 schools for Diversion, which measures the total waste diverted away from landfills or incineration.

The college’s EcoReps, students who lead sustainability-related projects on campus, spearheaded �ֲ���ý’ participation in the competition. But they’re not resting on their RecycleMania laurels.

“The results show us what areas we need to work on and more of what we need to do in the future,” says Olivia LaMarche ’20, who is in an EcoRep group focused on waste and recycling. “It’s a really good benchmark.”  

RecycleMania encourages recycling across several categories. Three hundred colleges and universities across the United States and Canada, with a total enrollment of 3.6 million, or composted 68.6 million pounds of waste during the Feb. 4–March 31 competition.

�ֲ���ý and the EcoReps have made concerted efforts in recent years to reduce waste on campus, including installing standardized bins for sorting waste, eliminating paper coffee cups in Commons, and hosting “No Waste November” events around the ever-popular annual Trashion Show.

Sustainability Manager Tom Twist and several EcoReps show off the college’s color-coded waste receptacles, installed in 2017. (Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

�ֲ���ý’ strong RecycleMania numbers show that the college is doing well in an area that often proves a tough nut to crack: changing people’s behavior. 

“We’ve been putting a lot of thought into waste reduction, such as standardization of bins, and these numbers would suggest that it’s working,” says Sustainability Manager Tom Twist.

Using receipts from the local companies that take �ֲ���ý’ waste to area landfills, recycling centers, or composters, the EcoReps were able to measure how many pounds of waste the campus produces and where the waste goes.

But to reduce those numbers as much as possible, the EcoReps had to get other students informed and on board. So they took to Commons in February and March, explaining RecycleMania and asking waste-related trivia questions. Such as:

• Question: How many pounds of food does Commons send to a local pig farmer each week? Answer: 3,900.
  
• Question: Approximately what percentage of waste does �ֲ���ý Dining divert from the landfill? Answer: 80 percent.

The EcoReps also devised a waste-reduction competition among �ֲ���ý residences, with a bagel breakfast as a grand prize. To get dorm-specific waste information, the EcoReps teamed up with an environmental science class to conduct waste audits, sifting through trash and recycling bins to figure out what students throw out and whether they throw it in the right place. (The winners of that competition are yet to be announced).

During the 2017 Trashion Show, Domi Frideger ’21 models an outfit designed by Sarah Sachs ’18 and Olivia LaMarche ’20. The outfit was meant to highlight that food and liquids don’t go with other recyclables. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

“It’s a great eye-opener for the students to see what was in there, in some cases seeing if it’s being sorted poorly or not,” Twist says.

The success of the RecycleMania effort, as with every sustainability initiative at �ֲ���ý, was due to collaboration across campus. Dining Services has long worked to divert food waste, and the college’s Facility Services staff helped the EcoReps to make accurate waste audits possible. 

“They adjusted their whole schedule and were able to set aside the waste and recycling for us for that day, which is a pretty big disruption,” Twist said. “We’re grateful that they did that.”  

Clearing Garcelon’s FieldTurf surface is “a sign of spring and a sign of spring sports,” says Tim Kivus of Facilities Services.

On this mid-January day, Kivus is driving a red Chevrolet plow truck, which will travel “16 miles forward and 16 miles backward” during its plowing operations, says Kivus.

Plowing Garcelon is a three-person project. Fellow grounds crew member Mike Adams operates a Bobcat skid-steer loader while Adam Wright handles a John Deere wheel loader.

Though official varsity practices won’t start until Feb. 15, athletes of all persuasions will take to Garcelon as soon as it’s clear.

“There’s excitement any time Garcelon is visible,” says lacrosse player Andrew Small ’19 of Deerfield, Ill.

“The �ֲ���ý grounds crew is fabulous,” says head lacrosse coach Peter Lasagna. “They work hard to give students the best opportunities to reach their athletic potential.”

Aside from a few hours at Convocation in the fall and Commencement in the spring, the ceremonial �ֲ���ý mace spends its days locked in the official �ֲ���ý vault in Lane Hall.

Early this morning, Jay Phillips and Virginia Sturgis of Facilities Services headed into the vault to secure the �ֲ���ý mace for Commencement on Sunday. We followed along.

April showers — plus a lot of help from a student work crew during Short Term — make May’s flowers look their best at �ֲ���ý.

Getting ready for Commencement weekend, �ֲ���ý landscape architect Bill Bergevin hires students to help with the springtime cleanup: field work, gardening, and laying mulch — 60 cubic yards’ worth — around campus.

Besides getting some extra paid help from his crew of four women and four men, “it’s a great opportunity for me to get to know the students on campus,” Bergevin says.

After digging into rigorous academic courses, workers like Max Millslagle ’17 of Bend, Ore., enjoy digging into the dirt during Short Term.

Max Millslagle ’17 of Bend, Ore., works on shrub beds next to the Kenison Gate on Campus Avenue. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

“I definitely notice where we have worked, and it’s always rewarding to see that we are making progress,” says Millslagle, who has done yard work as a summer job. “It’s nice being outside and playing around in some dirt.”

Millslagle isn’t taking a Short Term course this spring (students need to complete just two during their �ֲ���ý career), so he’s free to focus on this landscaping work, plus having fun with his soon-to-graduate classmates.

Two years younger, Jamie Kelleher ’19 from Redondo Beach, Calif., balances grounds work with fieldwork: Her Short Term anthropology course, “Encountering Community,” involves research in Lewiston-Auburn.

“One of the good things about this job is that there are structured times,” Kelleher explains. “My Short Term is mostly independent research, so this job gives me an opportunity to be outside, meet some new students, and make money at the same time. It also keeps me in very good shape!”

This is Bergevin’s 35th year at �ֲ���ý. Starting as a member of the Facility Services grounds crew, he has maintained a passion for planting, gardening, and making the campus look its best during prime time, Commencement weekend.

Bill Bergevin sweeps the sidewalk after a mulching session near Carnegie Science Hall. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

“It’s nice, hopefully, at the end of Short Term to take a breath, look at the campus, and feel a little bit of satisfaction that we played a part in how good it looks,” he says. “Because it almost always does look impressive for Commencement.”

“It’s cool to have a part in how campus is going to look when I graduate in a few weeks,” says Clarke Shipley ’17 of Andover, Mass.

In order to get his students squared away and ready to work by 8 a.m., Bergevin starts as early as 6:30 in the morning, rain or shine. He sets out and dries out (as needed) all of his equipment, consisting of several rakes, shovels, mulching forks, hoes, buckets, bins, tarps, dump truck, and a Bobcat skid-steer loader.

A big focus of the work is to clean up the shrub and flower beds, raking and removing leaves left over from the fall cleanup and removing winter debris.

“I try to look at the campus through other people’s eyes and see what I think they see,” Bergevin says. “I try to do everything that I can to make sure that the place looks good for everybody.”

Max Millslagle ’17 of Bend, Ore., JD Chow ’17 of Montclair, N.J., and Diego Marcogliese ’17 of Los Angeles take a brief break from work to pose for a photograph. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Once all the beds are cleaned up all around campus, Bergevin and his students go through and lay down black mulch, delivered earlier in the spring by a company in nearby Poland.

The 60 yards of mulch is delivered to the Cutten Maintenance Center. Bergevin uses a college dump truck to haul large loads to where he and his students are working — dumping them on a large tarp — then uses the Bobcat to bring smaller loads closer to the beds.

Once all the mulching is done, the next project is to plant annuals and perennials around campus.

Diego Marcogliese ’17 of Los Angeles stretches himself to spread mulch near Carnegie Science Hall. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Bergevin grows his own flowers in the campus greenhouse located next to Cutten Maintenance Center. This year, be on the lookout for Bill’s very own begonias and cleomes.

The Historic Quad, �ֲ���ý’ oasis, is one of Bergevin’s favorite �ֲ���ý places. As old trees come down, he’s selected and planted more than a few new trees over the years.

“It is rewarding to know that I played a role in how the campus is going to look for the next 50 to 100 years,” says Bergevin, with just a hint of a smile as he works, on his hands and knees, mulching beds near Carnegie Science Building.

Here on campus, we’d see about 15 inches of snow in an average February.

We’re now close to 50 inches, which is more than double the height of your average bobcat. In just the last week, 47 inches have fallen in a one-two-three-four-five punch.

Here’s how much snow each storm dropped:

Feb. 8 — 5.5 inches
Feb. 9 — 11.5 inches
Feb. 11 — 3.5 inches
Feb. 13 — 19.5 inches
Feb. 15 — 7 inches

And here are some scenes and sounds from the week that was as �ֲ���ý people went about their business.

What did the Floridian say to the Mainers?

The temperature was about 13 degrees and the wind was gusting to 25 mph when we caught up with Kinsey Moser ’18 of Florida, at left, who was walking with Emma Foss ’19 and Adam Poulin ’19 of Maine and Jade Donaldson ’18 of New Jersey.

Which one had a sunny outlook on a snowy day?

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Many hands make light work

�ֲ���ý is able to clear campus walks and driveways quicker than ever these days. Begun last year, a new approach to moving snow has Facility Services staff from many different departments pitching in to help the 12-person grounds crew.

Snowbanks? We got 'em, especially after nearly 50 inches of snow so far in February. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

The wind kicks up snow on Feb. 13 as students cross the frosty Historic Quad. (Durotimi Akinkugbe '18 for �ֲ���ý College)

Students head into the wind on Alumni Walk on Feb. 13 as the 19.5-inch storm slowly winds down. (Durotimi Akinkugbe '18 for �ֲ���ý College)

The Class of 1929 Gate has seen its share of snowstorms. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Students crossing the Historic Quad are the only thing not cloaked in snow on Feb. 16. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

�ֲ���ý ‘doesn’t really shut down’

WCSH-TV’s Kristina Rex spent the day at �ֲ���ý on Monday and joined grounds crew member Tim Kivus on his plowing rounds. “In our eyes, [�ֲ���ý] really doesn’t shut down,” he said.

�ֲ���ý did slow a tad during the week, including an afternoon closure of administrative offices on Feb. 9 and a full-day shutdown on Monday. (When offices close, individual professors choose whether to hold their classes or not.)

As nearly 20 inches of snow fell on Monday, Jonathan Lindgren ’20 of Plainville, Conn., still had three classes, including an exam. “I have hard-core teachers who live right down the block,” he told Rex.

Recalling February 1969

In terms of snowy Februarys, current students experienced the 28.5-inch snowstorm of February 2013.  Much further back, alumni of the late 1960s will recall two storms two weeks apart in 1969 that dropped  20.5 inches Feb. 10–11 and 36.4 inches over four days, Feb. 24–27.

A day into the infamous “100-hour storm,” the Lewiston Evening Journal’s banner headline on Feb. 25, 1969, announced 17 inches of snow had fallen. Though the paper’s forecast called for improving weather that day, the storm would continue for another three days.

The storm was so disruptive that on Friday, Feb. 28, Gov. Ken Curtis invoked a never-before-used Maine law and declared that large grocery stores could open on Sunday, March 2. At the time (and until 1990), state law prohibited businesses with more than five employees and 5,000 square feet of retail space to open on Sundays.

The Lewiston Evening Journal‘s banner headline on Feb. 25 announces 17 inches of snow. But the storm wasn’t over yet.

Snowbells

Get a 360-degree view from atop windy and snowy Mount David and hear the Hathorn Hall bell on Feb. 9.

During the May 21 cleanup of Mount David, from left, Oliver Farnum ’19 of Marshfield, Mass., Jeremy Mack ’16 of Brooklyn, N.Y., and George Fiske ’19 of West Hartford, Conn., grapple with old sections of chain-link fencing. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

 The hill is a gateway experience for �ֲ���ý students “just beginning to get outside.”

EcoRep leader Dana Cohen-Kaplan ’16 (left) and �ֲ���ý sustainability manager Tom Twist confer during the EcoService Day project on Mount David on May 21. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Dana Cohen-Kaplan ’16 holds an old sign that reads, “Private Property: No Admittance Without Permission, Trespassers will be prosecuted, President and Trustees of �ֲ���ý College, Owner.” (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Adam Auerbach '16 (left) of Silver Spring, Md., and James Pardo '18 of South Salem, N.Y., dig a water bar that diverts runoff to prevent erosion along a Mount David trail during the EcoService Day project on May 21. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Jeremy Mack '16 of Brookly, N.Y., rolls up old chain-link fencing during the EcoService Day project on Mount David on May 21, 2016. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

During the EcoService Day project on Mount David on May 21, Tim Kivus of Facility Services clears leaves from the base of a metal pole holding chain-link fencing before cutting the pole down with a grinder. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Rachel Minkovitz '19 of Wilmington, Del., picks up trash on Mount David during the EcoService Day project on May 21. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

�ֲ���ý sustainability manager Tom Twist estimates that about 100 feet of fencing was removed from behind the Frye Street houses during the EcoService Day project on Mount David on May 21. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

“You can enjoy a space and leave no trace. The two can go together.”

Rachel Minkovitz ’19 of Wilmington, Del., picks up trash on Mount David during the EcoService Day project on May 21. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Because �ֲ���ý went to the mattresses, in a sense, over the summer, swapping out more than 700 mattresses in student residences, some families in Northern Maine might soon be sleeping better.

Out with the old and in with the new, as workers deliver new mattresses to Webb House on Frye Street on Aug. 18, 2015. At the same time, they removed old mattresses, which were donated to Catholic Charities Maine to support its programs in Aroostook County. (Photographs by Jay Burns/�ֲ���ý College)

As the old foam mattresses left campus, nary a landfill got filled. Instead, the mattresses were hauled far north, to Aroostook County, where Catholic Charities Maine will sell them from three thrift stores in the county.

Turning furniture into food.

The money made in CCM thrift stores, in turn, supports the organization’s food bank, which supplies 25 food pantries in the county. “We literally turn furniture into food,” says Dixie Shaw, CCM director of hunger and relief services. “People get beds for their children, and we get food for their tables.”

David Larrabee, who oversees the operation for �ֲ���ý Facility Services, explains that while �ֲ���ý has, in the past, donated a small number of old mattresses to other nonprofits, including summer camps for economically disadvantaged children, for big jobs like this the college bunks up with CCM.

If knowing about this sustainable sleep cycle doesn’t help �ֲ���ý students catch some Z’s, the comfy new mattresses should, says Larrabee.

The new mattresses are inner-spring, while the ones they’re replacing were an older foam style. Larrabee has been testing out the new model by installing it in a few rooms on campus, “and the feedback to Student Affairs has been good,” he says.

�ֲ���ý also donated old recycle bins, which were immediately put to use to harvest vegetables on farmland donated to CCM, veggies destined for local food pantries. (Photograph courtesy Catholic Charities Maine)

As the new mattresses were installed, bedboards were put aside. This decorated bedboard had an inscription that read, in part, "Practice love. Keep your head high. Don't forget you are how you act."

The new mattresses are ready for their sleepy students.

David Larrabee of �ֲ���ý Facility Services and his workers move old mattresses from a staging area in Underhill Arena to a waiting Catholic Charities Maine truck.

Into the truck the old mattresses go.

Regardless of comfort, it was time to replace the old ones. “Some are up to 15 years old,” he says. “At least none have straw.” Meanwhile, the 950 or so student mattresses not being replaced this time around are a newer, memory-foam style that are “still in very good shape,” he adds.

This summer’s new mattresses, the “Life Safety II Comfort” model, come from Bourdon’s Institutional Sales in Claremont, N.H. Economically priced at $128 per mattress, they measure 36 inches by 80 inches and are 8 inches thick. (For all you parents planning to buy sheets for your first-years, that size is equivalent to twin extra long.)

On Aug. 18, Larrabee’s moving crew was on Frye Street, removing old mattresses and putting in new ones in the various 19th-century houses, including Parsons (29), Chase (19), Moulton (22), Webb (21), and Hacker (20).

As the workers pulled out the old mattresses, they also set aside many of the plywood bedboards. “With the new mattresses, there shouldn’t be a need for bedboards,” said Larrabee.

Though if the bedboards go away, it might affect students more during waking hours. Conveniently sized, they’re useful tabletops for parties. Sure enough, one of the boards in Moulton was decorated end to end with happy birthday wishes.

The old mattresses were hauled to a staging area, in Underhill Arena, where they were picked up the next day by a CCM truck

As the driver got ready to leave, his truck filled top to bottom with mattresses (as opposed to 22,000 pounds of donated french fries on another trip), Larrabee helped him shove a stack of plastic recycle bins into the passenger seat.

That was another �ֲ���ý donation, a few of the 200 bins that CCM volunteers are now using to harvest vegetables — rutabagas, beets, and squash — grown on donated land.

Known as the Farm for ME program, the veggies supply the CCM food bank.

“Donations from �ֲ���ý go so much further than you can imagine,” says Shaw.