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President's Letter |
 Clare Kwant and a talented grounds crew keep Ferris’ campus looking picture perfect
In the fall maybe you rake a few leaves, pull up a shrub or two and perhaps plant a few bulbs. But what if you had to plant 10,000 of them? According to Clare Kwant, Ferris’ superintendent of grounds, roads and walks, that’s exactly what his crews do each October. “We go through two augers we use to drill the holes every season. We just wear them out,” says Kwant. And that’s after planting 1,900 fall mums. In the spring, Kwant’s crews will also plant 1,800 flats of flowers. Kwant says it’s all a part of making the campus as appealing as possible for local residents, the campus community and especially prospective students and their families. “Today, there’s much more importance given to making the grounds the ‘front door’ to the campus,” he says. “Parents want to feel that this is a good place for their kids to go. If campus is an open, beautiful place, then it’s easier for them to make up their minds that Ferris is the place to be.” Kwant and his crew of talented grounds staff have been making Ferris a beautiful place to be since 1977 that’s when his wife, unbeknownst to Kwant, sent his resume to the University in response to a job opening. “I got a call just before Christmas from Joe Spedowski Sr., who was the director of Physical Plant at that time,” recalls Kwant. “He said he was calling to talk to me about my resume. I said, ‘I don’t believe I sent a resume.’ My wife overheard the conversation and whispered to me to talk to him. Since I was working a ton of hours operating my own business 14 to16 hours every day she was sick of it. So she’s the reason behind me being here.”
Some of the projects have required unique collaborations. In land-designing the center courtyard north of the Arts and Sciences complex, Kwant had to take into account the area’s limited sunlight. “We had Tom Johnson from the Astronomy program help out with some calculations about the sun’s orientation so we could determine which plants to use,” says Kwant. “The buildings pretty much block out adequate natural light, and we have to maximize the use of what’s available.” While the pace of new projects has slowed somewhat, planning continues for further transformation of the Ferris campus especially with renovation of the Instructional Resource Center. “That project won’t be completed until next year, but the building architects have been provided a landscape design, and we transplanted and relocated large trees and shrubbery early this spring to get ready.” He’s also working with Food Services to redevelop the entrance to South Commons, home of The Rock Café, utilizing ‘rock’ formations and a waterfall. Kwant points to the State Street Enhancement Project which helped make the major thoroughfare greener while unifying the campus as perhaps the project that most people see and the one of which he’s most proud.
So if you haven’t been to campus for a while, stop by and admire the grounds. And don’t feel that you have to keep mum about it. Fall Gardening Tips: A standard recommendation is to plant bulbs at a depth of approximately eight inches. However, plant slightly shallower for dense or clayey soil. Include a handful of bonemeal when planting. With a pH testing kit you can find the soil’s acidity, allowing you to choose plants best suited to the type of soil you’re planting in. Don’t skimp on bulbs. Larger, higher-quality bulbs are worth the extra money. If you have trees that are especially vulnerable to wind, or are exposed to salt spray from being next to a road, you can protect the trunk and even lower branches with an anti-desiccant spray. A burlap wrap or other wind-break also can help. |
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