Leaving campus during the warm(er) days of the past week, you would almost forget the falling mountains of ice and snow that could’ve delayed your commuting experience far worse than it most likely was. Luckily for the Raymond Walters Campus, there were staffers Terry, Rob, Davey, Travis and Gary who were led by Greg, Daniel and Mike (the RWC grounds crew) and fifteen tons of salt “taking care of business” as Dean Don O’Meara put it. The maintenance staff deserves a special thanks for the 200 man-hours of work they put in to keep campus afloat during the two storms that whipped Cincinnati and its neighboring cities into an all out winter wonderland. Many staffers worked more than seventeen hours at a time. Considering that at 3 a.m. the lots were already underway to being plowed for the upcoming school day, RWC’s grounds crew definitely has the gratitude of the faculty, staff and students.
With all the hard work outside that was done, the RWC housekeeping staff kept up with the pace inside the school also. “Thanks are also in store for our Housekeeping staff for their hard work in keeping the entrances clean of water and slush,” Dean O’Meara sang praises of the staff, pointing out the no nonsense attitude of everyone who came in despite the snows. More thanks went to the facility supervisors, Doug and Bret, as they essentially coordinated the onslaught of shoveling, salting, piling, drying, calling, alerting and everything in between.
Lastly the RWC staff and faculty who catered to and cooperated with students and visitors during the trying circumstances deserve special thanks also. There were faculty members staying late to wait with students and those same employees returning with renewed vigor the next day “ready to assist our students,” Dean O’Meara recalled.
If you managed to stay bruise-free over those icy weeks or even if you didn’t, consider that it could have been quite the disaster if our grounds crew and support staff hadn’t stepped up to tackle the weather, and their dedication to uphold our “business as usual” environment deserves praise.