Fenwick’s faculty is not composed solely of its teachers or students but also the hardworking maintenance staff. Fenwick’s maintenance staff consists of Jose Garcia, night building engineer, Rafael Torres, building engineer, Lorenzo Ginez, transportation coordinator, John Lemus, maintenance worker, Miguel, maintenance worker, and Chris Vollman, route driver and maintenance worker. The work that the maintenance members do greatly affects our daily lives as students; they make sure our school remain as safe as possible.
There are so many tasks that go unnoticed that should be brought to light, like the fact that, “Maintenance is continually cleaning graffiti throughout the school and unclogging toilets,” says Mr. Jerry Ruffino. Mr. Ruffino, who oversees the maintenance staff, speaks about how the work that goes most unnoticed by students is things they cause. According to Mr. Sperandio, “the guys [on the maintenance staff] are the hardest workers in the building!” Mr. Sperandio credits them with changing the lightbulbs, repairing all the building equipment, and repairing the buses. The maintenance staff does so much work that unfortunately goes unrecognized.
Every single member of the team is dedicated to help keep our school upright. Mr. Ruffino states, “they start their day off very early with building checks and event setups, and they then continue their day by doing daily projects and taking care of the building requests by faculty and staff. Whenever there is something to be fixed, which is often in our school, the maintenance staff fixes it.”
In addition to necessary daily tasks, the maintenance staff tackles the various seasonal challenges as well. As every Fenwick student is aware, during the winter months there is a lot of snow, and the members of the maintenance staff are those individuals who work to ensure that the snow is removed so that the building can be safe. When asked about his favorite part about working at the school, Mr. Ruffino said, “Being a part of a great group that includes students, faculty, staff, and the community. It’s corny, but in the quietness of the wrestling room I can hear myself saying, WE ARE THE FRIARS AND FRIARS ARE GREAT!” This is evident in how connected the maintenance department is with the Fenwick community; they truly love the school and do so much for it. Fenwick would not be able to run without each member of the maintenance team. The maintenance team works extremely hard to make sure our school remains clean and safe, and they take on every challenge thrown at them, from the snow outside, to the graffiti inside. The members of maintenance are who keep our school together with their important contributions, hard work, and determination.
