The Wilson that students experience every day is made possible by the efforts of the campus community—from the faculty, who challenge students in classes and labs, to staff, who undertake the often-unheralded tasks of keeping students engaged, safe and well-fed, and the campus thriving and well-tended. April 19, 2016, is just one day, but it captures the efforts that go into bringing the Wilson experience to life every day: 5:30 a.m. - Wilson wakes up Two-and-one-half hours before the first administrative office opens for business, campus is bustling with work most never see. A string of cars makes its way to campus. Lights in administrative and academic buildings across campus flicker on. Doors open, curtains are pulled back, chairs screech on hardwood floors. Housekeeping is on the job. In the next three hours, a team of 12 will begin getting campus ready for the day—moving through seven administrative and four academic buildings—setting up classrooms, emptying trash and recycling bins, cleaning and restocking bathrooms and making notes of any issues that need to be reported to physical plant for follow-up. As this largely unnoticed squad makes its rounds and the sun begins clear the horizon, the next wave of staff arrives at the Alan McKee Physical Plant Building. 6:15 a.m. Housekeeper Mary Norah begins her day 7 a.m. Administrative assistant Pamela Siebert heads directly to the physical plant office to see if any overnight emergency work orders have been received. Even before he gets to the office, facilities management director Jack Kelly (pictured) takes a tour of campus and makes notes about any maintenance issues that need to be addressed. Once he arrives at the plant office, he and Seibert look over any emergency work tickets, check daily routine maintenance needs and start building today’s schedules. From this point, the rhythm for the day is anyone’s guess. “We never know what each day might bring..." “We never know what each day might bring,” Kelly said. “Anything from storm cleanup and fallen trees to heating issues in the winter. Pam and I look at who’s available and get the tickets out.” 7 a.m. Jensen Dining Hall opens for breakfast 7:30 a.m. Grounds crew member Travis Carr clears sidewalks in front of Lenfest Commons. 8 a.m. Classes start and offices open for business 8:10 a.m. Morgan Wonders ’16 (left) and Devynn Wiesniewski ’19 get ready for a dissection exercise in their anatomy/physiology lab with Tonia Hess-Kling, assistant professor of exercise and sports science. 9 a.m. Breakfast at the Jensen Dining Hall is over. The dining hall doors close with a reverberating bang. To the staff, that’s the sound of the starting gun for the next heat in the day’s race—in two-and-one-half hours the hall will reopen, ready to feed another 260 hungry students, faculty and staff. Lunch is the busiest meal of the day. The 11 staff members and three managers in dining services meet over a quick bite while talking through menu prep for the upcoming meal. The grills and ovens are up to temperature and the kitchen starts to heat up. April Stouffer begins to set up various food stations with the deli bar. Staff members waltz around each other as they shift from station to station. At one prep table, Jimmie Norah is assembling eggplant and artichoke sandwiches on baguettes, while simultaneously giving an ingredients list to another team member. Upstairs, Jared Redick (pictured) tosses pizza dough high into the air and Stouffer now readies the pasta station. 9:30 a.m. Admissions counselor Vanessa Whitfield ’14 prepares to attend a college fair in New Jersey. Lynn Newman, associate professor of education, addresses her Child Development and Learning class in Warfield Hall. 10 a.m. Kaylie Smith ’19 (pictured) has made her way across the Conococheague Creek and up to the Fulton Farm to report for her work-study job. After an unseasonably cold spring, she welcomes the chance to work outside on a beautiful, warm spring day, even if it means spending her two-hour shift weeding the areas around the farm’s outdoor classroom. “We do a lot of weeding,” Smith said. A VMT major, she chose to work at the farm because she didn’t want to work at a desk. She wanted a hands-on experience outside. “In the fall we pick vegetables. I like when we get fresh produce—you get to clean it and CSA (community-supported agriculture) comes and picks it up. It’s fun to see it going out.” In the fall we pick vegetables. I like when we get fresh produce... Smith is one of 158 students who participated in work-study this past year, contributing more than 25,000 hours to offices across the campus. A busy day blooms 11 a.m. James D’Annibale, technology and learning commons librarian, (left) demonstrates the personal librarian computer feature to student Gaser Ahmed ’17. Choir Director Elisabeth Turchi leads choir practice in Thomson Hall. Noon The dining hall doors unlock, the pasta station chefs light their grills and a stream of hungry students pours in for lunch. In roughly an hour and a half, all the prep work will start over again for dinner. 1:45 p.m. After four years, seniors Kelly Myers, Abby Burkehart, Elizabeth Thomas, Tia Shear and Olivia Mullen are a team. Nothing much fazes them in their Veterinary Medical Technology Clinical Experience surgery lab—not even a dog that refuses to succumb to anesthesia. Why would it be easy? You guys don’t do easy. The team today is undertaking a spay operation for Gypsy Rose, a shepherd mix, but during the prep, anesthetizing the dog becomes tricky. Mullen explains the drug can make the animal breathe rapidly, or—as Gypsy is doing—hold its breath. The team must adjust the anesthesia machine to breathe the right way for Gypsy, in long slow breaths. “Why would it be easy?” Shear quipped at one point. “You guys don’t do easy,” VMT Director Freya Burnett replied. The team has Gypsy in the operating room by 2:10 p.m., drawing praise from Burnett. “They’re a steady bunch,” she said. “Damn, we’re good,” laughed Shear. VMT students Elizabeth Thomas (left) and Abby Burkeheart check vital signs on Gypsy Rose, a shepherd mix. 2:30 p.m. Students in Professor Ed Wells’ “A Liberal Arts Approach to Climate Change” course (pictured) get a lesson in diplomacy as they convene in the Brooks Center auditorium to begin negotiating a mock United Nations climate treaty. Negotiations tend to be a tedious and not entirely satisfying process, Wells, professor of environmental studies, warns them beforehand. “We have to see where we have common ground. How do we get a treaty signed that everyone can live with?” he said. Each student represents a different country. Danniele Fulmer ’17, as China, is the first to weigh in. “In general, China feels there needs to be stronger partnerships between developed and undeveloped countries,” she said. Japan, represented by Brant Swartz, advocates more forceful and precise language to get countries to comply with pollution reduction goals. “You can gently encourage something or you can forcefully encourage it,” he said. At the end of the session, Wells praises his class for a “really good discussion,” and says by the end of the course there will be a treaty to sign. 3 p.m. Dana Harriger, professor of biology, talks with Jordyn Day ’19, during a general biology lab in the Brooks Science Center. 3:10 p.m. Remember Gypsy Rose? Her spay is successfully completed at the VMT lab. 4 p.m. Practice at Kris’ Meadow brings out seven members of the women’s soccer team, including Jessie Thrush ’17 (pictured), who run agility and passing drills, and practice splitting defenders and stealing balls from each other. At a distant goal, three men’s soccer players shoot goals on their own. Nearly 25 percent of undergraduates participate in one of the nine team sports at Wilson. During the 2015-16 school year, 110 student-athletes were active and many participated in more than one sport. Soccer is mainly a fall sport, but spring practices are allowed. This year there will be a women’s spring practice match on April 30 against Penn State Mont Alto, and the team intends to be ready. Evening on campus A golden afternoon slides into a glorious evening. The bell has rung for Dean’s Day, promising a day off from classes tomorrow. Everyone is outside, finding ways to celebrate the warm weather. 5 p.m. In front of Prentis Hall, Single Parent Scholar program students break out bicycles and bubbles, and children’s laughter fills the air. 6 p.m. A touch football game springs up on the green as night classes begin. 6:30 pm Bob Dickson, associate professor of fine arts, leads discussion during his Medieval and Islamic Art class in Lortz Hall. 7 p.m. Adjunct professor Sharon Erby takes her Creative Writing class outside for discussion in the glow of the evening. 7:30 pm Field hockey Coach Shelly Novak conducts a field hockey clinic for middle school athletes at the field house. End of day As night classes wind down, a full moon rises over campus. Students walk in small groups through the green, laughing, on their way back to their dorms, while others pack up their books and laptops and head for their cars. 9:15 p.m. Three international students are still at work on a pottery project in the art annex 9:30 p.m. Security guard Michael Dick says his night shift is usually uneventful. “It can be a bit boring sometimes, but I mean that in a good way,” he said. “No one is making any trouble.” 11 p.m. The last building to clear and lock up is the John Stewart Memorial Library. Lights in the dorm windows begin to wink out as the day ends. View more photos from our Day in the Life of Wilson in the photo gallery below.
