The University of Wyoming is ranked ninth on the lawnstarter.com list of best landscaped schools in the Mountain West. It accredits the beauty of the sculpted grounds, which it calls “a regal-looking treat,” to “a great grounds crew.” So who are these workers in green shirts all over campus this summer?
Scott Royce, deputy director for Facilities Services, and Andy Smith, manager of University Landscaping and Grounds, gave some insight into the hard work put into the university grounds during summertime. Smith’s main comment about the job is “there’s always something to do.”
The grounds crew consists of six full-time workers and 27 part-time workers, almost all of whom are UW students. They take care of almost all university grounds, except the athletics department and university-run apartments. Their duties, as Smith said, “include a lot of different things . . . mowing and trimming, irrigation repair, tree trimming, shrub trimming . . . sprinkler instillations, a lot of sod work, we plant quite a few trees every season, and then general turf maintenance.”
The crew also plants a lot of flowers which they grow their own, mostly annuals.
“We actually propagate and grow our own annuals; we grow about 40,000 flowers every year, we operate our own greenhouse,” Smith said.
The crew has planted 46 trees so far this summer and will add more still.
Sydney Johnson, a sophomore in international business, says she is part of a flower crew, which plants in the flower beds on campus and maintains them.
“I like it ‘cause I like to be outside,” she said.
She explained the crew does not work when it is raining, so they usually have the privilege of working in good weather.
Smith hires a variety of students in the summer.
“They just want to get outside . . . all the kids have different backgrounds, different interests, different coursework,” Smith said.
They start right away in the summer, usually the Monday after graduation until school starts in the fall. Their agenda changes in the summer, as they plant flowers in June and proceed to do a lot of cultivating and sod repair from the snow and salt damages from winter. After damage repairs, the crew continues maintenance.
Their work is endless, with a lot of areas in need of care. Smith said they do “pretty much everything to 22nd Street, we do go clear out to Plant Science, we do take care of the day care out on 30th…conference center, gateway center, we do all that.”
The crew maintains over 130 acres of land altogether, and they put in over 10,000 hours each summer to make the campus the beautiful place it is.
Austin Fermelia, senior in education history, says he likes his job. Shane Cornell, a senior in mechanical engineering, and Kahler Dawson, a junior in physical education, agreed with Fermelia. They all said it is a great job to meet people, and it is a friendly environment.
“You get to be outside all summer,” they said. “Free tan!”
Fermelia comes up with more advantages, saying “you learn a new skill,” and “supervisors have been nice to work with, encouraging individuals, allowing us not only to work but have fun!”
The crew’s supervisors are equally happy with their workers, as Royce said “overall our seasonal workers we get good crews; we have very low problems with behaviors, they seem to be good, hard-working.” “Kids enjoy working there—it’s a great summer job for Laramie… for the most part we get a really good crew… and I think we try to instill in them the want and desire to keep the campus looking good,” Smith said.
From the looks of campus, the grounds crew desires just that.
