21 Years.

 

"A bicycle rests against a lightpost in the academic quad at Goucher College Monday, November 22, 2010."

If someone had taken this exact photograph 21 years ago to date, the ground would have been covered in snow and the leaves would have all been gone.

My mom reminded me this year that, on the day after I was born, she could see snow on the ground outside her hospital window as she ate Thanksgiving dinner.

I wanted to snap this photograph so I had a record of what a beautiful day it was on my birthday this year.

It’s been a great 21 years!

Mr. Raymond West.

 

"Raymond West, a member of the Facilities Management Services team at Goucher College poses for a headshot Monday, November 22, 2010."

In light of the recent increase in alcohol and drug-related incidents on campus at Goucher College this year, there’s been lots of dialogue on how to improve the situation.

One suggestion that I’ve heard many times is to build a better relationship between students and Facilities Management Services (FMS), as they’re the ones cleaning up the messes that are being made so much.

We decided to run a profile in The Quindecim on Mr. Raymond West, the one who is on-call round the clock every weekend. He gets called to campus regularly, at all hours of the night, to come clean up a student’s vomit, repair something that’s been broken, or pick up trash that people have left behind.

My hope is that with this upcoming article and a nice photograph like this one, we as students think about those who are taking care of us a bit more. If we actually know who people like Mr. West are, I think we’d be less likely to commit so many of these senseless acts.