Author: Carter Barron

I am working for Antioch College Facilities this spring term. The main two buildings that the Facilities crew uses are the Central Plant behind the Arts & Science Building and the Shop behind the Art Annex. A typical day for me at Facilities starts at 8:00 AM when I wake up and call my supervisor, Vonnie, to see what I will be doing for the day before I start work at 9:00 AM. Most days Vonnie will tell me to go get the mower ready and to start mowing at whatever place we left off last. If I am not mowing, I will usually either help my coworkers with housekeeping or I will assist the maintanance crew with whatever jobs they are doing that day. After I get my assignment, I will walk over to the shop behind the old Art annex to get the mower out and check its fluid levels. Then I will drive it over to wherever I have to mow for the day. 

One of the things I like the most about working for facilities is my process of getting into a relaxed state while I mow. Once I get myself situated, I will put on a podcast or music and start to drown out everything else. As I get into the groove of mowing, I get into a calm state of flow where I am just making lines back and forth in the grass. This has been a very calming and therapeutic thing for me during this difficult time in the world.

My coworkers are Vonnie, James, Quinten, Luke, Joshua, Dre, and Don. If I work with someone it will usually be Vonnie, Dre, Q, Luke, or James. The person that I report to is Vonnie and he reports to Joshua. I really like the people I work with. They are all very nice and they are good at teaching me something if I don’t know how to do it. Vonnie, in fact, won our college’s SOCHE Staff Excellence Award for his dilligent efforts to beautify campus.

In addition to the people, the other thing that I really like about working for Facilities is the exposure to nature that I get on a daily basis. Some of my favorite moments working for Facilities this term are the times where I get to interact with some of the cool creatures that live on campus. One time while I was mowing around the amphitheater there was a little bunny in the place where I had to go mow so I had to escort him out of the area. Then when I was mowing around the WYSO building, I got to see a baby deer sleeping. Another time I was getting off of lunch and there was a cool bug on the part of the mower I stand on so I had to help him off and into the grass. 

So this is what my days are about this quarter. I get myself onto the mower, put in my headphones and relax to some music or a podcast while relaxing into the natural beauty of Ohio in spring!

A picture of the bug and the bunny bellow