Every year, Trinity undergoes new renovations and landscape projects that tear up the land around the buildings. Thanks to a team of dedicated workers, it is not long before the area is looking better than before.
Mike Schweitzer, director of landscape services, has a team of 22 employees, many of whom have been working for the university for 30 years or more.
“It is not uncommon to have facilities employees, both grounds and trades, exceed 35-40 years of service,” Schweitzer said. “It is a great place to work, and the university consistently recognizes the contributions of our employees.”
Leopoldo Vasquez, grounds supervisor, is in charge of landscaping projects all over campus.
“When we have remodeled buildings that tear up all the ground, we have to go back and landscape with grass, plants and trees,” Vasquez said. “We’re focusing on redoing the area around Murchison right now.”
Vasquez has worked at the university for 15 years. During his time at Trinity, Vasquez has seen the Northrup rebuild in 2003, as well as the remodeling of Ruth Taylor and Dicke-Smith remodeled.
“After all of their construction work, we go back and put in new sidewalks, more grass and more trees. We also do all the colors, like the flowers you see in the main entrance of campus,” Vasquez said.
David Rincorn, grounds supervisor, has also seen some major changes on Trinity’s campus during his 34 years of employment with the university.
“There’s been a lot of changes. I started here when I was 20 years old as just a regular groundskeeper,” Rincorn said. “Prassel wasn’t even here, or McLean. We also had a lot of outside apartments where kids would stay on Bushnell and Rosewood that we were in charge of.”
Rincorn and his team are responsible for campus maintenance, including mowing, watering and clearing out any leaves or debris.
“We have Oakmont that we also keep mowed,” Rincorn said. “If they have functions, we go mow, clean up and make sure everything is nice.”
