The Maintenance Staff: Unsung Heroes of Hillsdale College
Written by Brennan Berryhill
When you flick on a light switch, it works. When you walk through campus, the grounds are meticulously kept. Every classroom is clean, and every building is well-maintained. It’s easy to get tunnel vision as a student—so focused on the next exam or an upcoming social event that you miss the miracle that is Hillsdale College. I can guarantee you’re familiar with how quickly something can degrade without being attended to (just look at your dorm room). A highly organized and efficient army of heroes—the College’s maintenance staff—keeps Hillsdale from becoming like that. While you have likely seen the lawns getting mowed or the brick walks being refurbished, there is so much more work the maintenance staff does behind the scenes. They are the unsung heroes of Hillsdale College.
The executive director of facilities at Hillsdale College is Dave Billington, and there are two superintendents under him. Mike Wiseley is the superintendent of grounds, while Kirk Wright is the superintendent of custodial services. Each manages a different aspect of caring for the College, and each oversees necessary, behind-the-scenes work that goes unnoticed by most students.
Kirk Wright has worked at Hillsdale College for 21 years—since he was 22 years old. His team of 60 hard-working men and women takes care of the custodial needs around campus across three shifts. He credits his team for organizing the many events that need to be covered and managing the day-to-day operations of the school.
The task of keeping the entire College pristine is no easy feat. “In the summertime when everyone thinks the College slows down, we get even busier,” said Mr. Wright. The custodial team must get all of campus, including the dorms, ready for the influx of camps and groups that come to the College throughout the summer months. They deep clean the dorms in just a few short days. “Custodial usually provides linens for most camps, so sometimes my team might be making beds for 600 visitors and the next day might have to turn the rooms around for another camp,” Mr. Wright said.
Walking through campus during the fall months is like living on the cover of a college brochure; that’s how beautiful the vivid trees and groomed pathways look. This gift we often take for granted is also under the purview of the maintenance staff. Angie Girdham is the campus horticulturist, and much of what you see is the result of her work. She has been at Hillsdale for 19 years, and the health of the trees and plants you see is her responsibility.
Far more than throwing seeds into the ground, she has to manage pests, tend to nutritional needs, prune, and water. She also grows beautiful ornamental plants for fundraisers and the holiday season. Ms. Girdham’s work is not just isolated to Hillsdale College. She works with the city forester and local contractors, and has even traveled to the College’s Blake Center for Faith and Freedom in Somers, Connecticut, to help prepare the replica of Monticello (Thomas Jefferson’s iconic home) for an event.
Some of Ms. Girdham’s unsung work includes monitoring the soil pH at the Halter Shooting Sports Education Center to prevent lead mobility from ammunition. She also manages algae in the College’s water features—namely in Slayton Arboretum. She helps in honoring people with dedicated trees, and creates study guides to prepare new employees for their pesticide license testing. And she is always in a battle with deer and geese!
Another grounds worker whose work you see on a day-to-day basis is Wayne Adams. He mows the lawns, landscapes, and removes snow during the winter. He’s been working at Hillsdale for almost nine years, and one thing he loves about his job is the variety. While he has daily tasks that stay consistent, one day he may be moving desks up and down stairs, and another day he’ll be setting up event spaces.
Like everyone else I spoke with, Mr. Adams loves the community: both among his co-workers and the school at large. He is glad to be a part of Hillsdale’s mission and enjoys watching freshmen make it from convocation to graduation. Setting up graduation is especially important to him, as he wants to make it meaningful for the graduates.
His behind-the-scenes work includes collecting trash from each dorm and coming in at 4:00 a.m. during the winter to clear snowy parking lots and sidewalks. He helps set up and tear down chapel seating for Hillsdale Academy on Wednesdays as well. Mr. Adams prides himself on all these tasks.
What about general maintenance? Rich Day is a Hillsdale veteran, having served the College for 32 years. For much of his career, he installed and maintained the phone lines throughout the College until landlines eventually became obsolete. With that immense knowledge of wiring, Mr. Day is consulted as a zone technician whenever any construction is slated to begin.
Now Mr. Day finds work for himself doing general maintenance and teaching the “young guys” what he’s learned from his many years of experience with wiring, lighting, emergency systems, and plumbing. He plans to retire in February and is passing on what he’s learned before he leaves. With so many years under his belt, Mr. Day would know where to look if an issue cropped up in any building. This is what he hopes to pass on. With retirement upcoming, Mr. Day said he is grateful for the gift of a steady job and healthy work environment.
Kirk Wright, Angie Girdham, Wayne Adams, Rich Day—these are just a few members of the amazing maintenance staff that help Hillsdale College operate. Based on my conversations, the maintenance staff are very knowledgeable and positive people who care about the mission of the College and work hard to keep it going. The next time you see someone from the Maintenance Department, take a second to thank them for what they do. They are the unsung, behind-the-scenes heroes that make this College turn ’round.
Brennan Berryhill, ’27, hails from Denver, Colorado, and when he isn’t writing or obsessively taking notes, you can find him playing trombone, debating, or nerding out over football.
Published in November 2023