April 2022

We have teams feeling accomplished as the weather begins to warm up and the growing season begins throughout campus. The SSC arborists have been planting trees and proactively removing potential hazards in trees and performing tasks that will promote tree health, the horticulture crews have cleaned the landscape throughout campus and have been completing renovation projects, and the GIS (Geographic Information Systems) team has been updating the campus tree inventory as well as collecting landscape, turf, irrigation, and fertilization applications on campus.

The busiest time in arboriculture is said to be from November through the following month of May because of how much an arborist can do for tree care in the coolest time of the year.  The arborists have been planting trees throughout campus, they have air excavated the soil around root systems of trees to aerify the soil using an Airspade, trees are being pruned to remove safety hazards and ball moss growing within the canopies, fertilizer will be applied to various trees in April, and a few trees have been found that need support systems installed to further support the tree and increase safety for pedestrians.  The crew continues to grow in experience and continues to work diligently to provide quality tree care on campus.

Horticulture teams care for the landscape throughout the Texas A&M campus.  Each horticulture team has been on mission to clean the landscape, prune back necessary plants, and prepare for the next growing season.  We also care for the grounds keeping for the George Bush Library and recently the horticulture department took action to improve an area called the Barbara Bush Rose Garden.  This rose garden is located near the pond at the library and many tourists and/or Texas A&M students spend time near the rose garden and/or take pictures in the area.  Over time, rain had been eroding soil away and the erosion causes issues in multiple ways.  Crews within the horticulture department installed a new drain system, installed borders, transplanted roses, added new top soil, and finished with a layer of mulch to help make the rose garden look much improved.  The new draining system also redirects water and there is no longer soil eroded after each rain.  The work the horticulture teams did will pay off as they see plant health improve throughout the Barbara Bush Rose Garden.

A team that is fairly new at SSC is the GIS department.  In the past few months, the GIS team has continued collecting data and updating the Texas A&M tree inventory.  The tree inventory has not been accounted for since the 1990’s and the GIS team has been updating the tree inventory on a weekly basis.  The team tracks data using ArcGIS, where over 4,000 trees have been collected thus far.  While the GIS works on updating the campus tree inventory, they are also collecting data for grounds maintenance throughout campus, such as turf data and landscape data.  As for turf, the team has accounted for every turf panel mown by SSC and found we mow over 1,300 acres of turf.  While the GIS team collects data for turf, landscape, and irrigation, they have also created maps for the SSC Lawn & Ornamental department, where GIS can track how much fertilizer or other applications are performed throughout campus through a digital map.  The GIS team continues to collect data on campus and as they are doing a great job, the data the team collects, benefits other SSC grounds departments.

Before Renovation

EDCS Winter Games

EDCS hosted their third annual Winter Games last month. Rock, Paper, Scissors Conga and Minute to Win It games involving items like plastic cups, strings, rubber bands and feathers were enjoyed along with Chick-Fil-A and music inspired by the Winter Olympics.

Celebrating Earth Day & the MSC Birthday Party at Rudder Plaza

April brought back several fun “in person” events to campus. After several years of celebrating virtually we were excited to set up in Rudder Plaza for two days of meeting with students and staff.

Tuesday, April 19th was Earth Day and we celebrated with a grounds presentation of flowers, shrubs, and trees. 

Grounds Regional Director of Operations Mike Teal, Grounds Manager Carla Leonard, and Grounds Manager Barbara Hatchel joined Barbara Musgrove to speak with students about the benefits of working in the grounds profession.

We were also able to advertise summer grounds positions that are available to A&M Students.

Texas A&M students wanting to work at least 15 hours per week for all 12 weeks of the summer are encouraged to apply at: bit.ly/grounds1000

In addition to the hourly wage for all hours worked each student will receive $1000. Education Scholarship at the end of the summer.

On Wednesday, April 20th thousands of students came by the festivities at the Rudder Tower to celebrate the MSC 71st Birthday Party and receive goodies being passed out to students from participating sponsors.

A huge thank you to Administrative Assistant Kristine Box and AMPT Supervisor Albert Gutierrez for jumping in to help.

March GEMS

Custodial

Andrea Hernandez

Maria Jasso

Cheryl Matthews

Jessica Prado

EDCS Quarterly

Kenny Marek

Grounds

Cody Schroeder

Kelvin Taylor

Lawrence Wallace

Maintenance

Ashley Marquez

CUSTODIAL NEW ASSOCIATES

Johnesia Ausby

Jakori Baines

Matthew Barnes

Louis Brown

Exiquia Calles

Frances Diaz

Joeann Fillio

Sara Gomez

Audrey Harper

Destiny Harris

Alicia Harris

Shalaria King

Tiarra Kinney

Darla Martinez

Niomi Medina

Magdalena Mendez

Timothy Mitchell

Maggie Nunn

Maribel Oliva

Jessica Orduno

Gabriela Rodriguez

Shawn Roemer

Theatrie Robinson

Daniel Savala

Linda Taylor

Alex Webber

Terrance Webber

EDCS

Erik Ramos

GROUNDS

Juan Alvarado

William Bordner

Ja’Colby Matthews

Roy Washington

MAINTENANCE NEW ASSOCIATES

Dawn Cummings

Darren Gillis

Jeffrey Goodwin

Micahel Toups