On any given day, while you rush to class, clubs and sports, 350 people are making sure floors are cleaned and mail is sorted and events are set up. And they're doing it all for you.
Facilities Operations and Management takes care of repairs, grounds maintenance, custodial services, mail services and parking and transportation services on campus. Gary Hill, director of custodial services, said FO&M has about 350 employees, including 136 full-time custodians, and they're all dedicated to making the College run smoothly.
Hill said running the College's day-to-day operations is like running a "small city."
"Without faculty, you can't teach; without administrators, you can't have a college; but without FO&M, you can't maintain heat, you can't maintain hockey rinks, you can't maintain pools, stoves won't work, refrigerators won't work," Hill said.
Custodian Bob O'Gara has learned to expect the unexpected. One morning, he walked into a science classroom to find crayfish covering the floor. Apparently a professor's research specimens had escaped their tanks and were following the airflow toward the door.
"It reminded me of Normandy Beach with bodies covering the floor," O'Gara said.
FO&M employees interviewed for this article all agreed that they enjoy meeting students and said that they had found that most students appreciate their work.
O'Gara said he gets to know graduate students in the science department and encourages them while they work on their theses. It's rewarding to see them finally finish, he said.
Hopkins Center custodial squad leader Andy Holmes said he appreciated the students at the College even when they do mischievous things. Every once in a while, he said, he'll walk into the Top of the Hop to find the furniture stacked in a pyramid.
He also remembers the days when students streaked the Green every fall.
If he sees a student struggling to carry a package, Holmes said, he'll offer to help regardless of what he's doing, because he believes one of his primary purposes is to be a resource for the students.
"I don't believe I've had any bad interactions with students here," Holmes, who has worked for FO&M for 22 years, said.
Hinman Mail Services employee Becky Mlynarksi said that, like in any population of people, there are nice ones and "a couple rotten eggs."
There are also the clueless ones, like the student who came up to Mlynarski the other day and asked how to address an envelope.
The mail room employees have seen their fair share of crazy deliveries. There was the male student last year who returned from winter break and had 31 packages waiting for him, and the female student who was shipped a stripper pole. In years past, students have removed other students' dorm room doors and left them in the mail room to be picked up.
Karen Hawtaniemi, a Hinman Mail Services supervisor, said that she enjoys interacting with students and appreciates how understanding they are when the mail room employees can't find a package.
Along with FO&M's more visible duties, employees do a lot that students don't often think about.
When the presidential debates took place at the College, FO&M was in charge of set-up and making sure everything met very specific expectations, Hill said.
"We had an aggressive schedule, and we came through as true professionals," Hill said. "We did a hell of a good job here. It was quite an honor, being able to see what you actually did with virtually no complaints."
Holmes said one of his most memorable experiences was working on the wedding of John Berry '44, the namesake of the Berry Library, at the Top of the Hop, because he "felt very involved" and appreciated by the wedding party.
Although Holmes said he still likes his job, he said the College has changed a lot over his two decades here.
"The College to me is becoming more business-oriented than it is community," Holmes said.
Every FO&M employee interviewed agreed, though, that they generally enjoy the work they do.
"There is no better college to attend or work for," Hill said.
