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Attention to Details: The Campus Beautification Team
09/04/2024
FSU’s campus is known for its beauty, from the sweeping branches of the oak trees to the Collegiate Gothic-style brick buildings that dot the landscape. While these more prominent features of the campus may be the first to garner one’s attention, taking a closer look at the details of FSU’s campus, like the light posts and the handrails, one would notice just as much care and attention has been dedicated to ensuring that these small features contribute to keeping all of the campus looking it’s best.
The Campus Beautification team is responsible for overseeing these often-overlooked details. Led by John Raulerson, the Master Craftsman Program Director, this team is part of a new initiative that started in the summer of 2024 intending to keep FSU’s campus pristine. Raulerson shares that the team’s goal is currently to restore outdoor elements and amenities on campus to be as they once were, but hopes that with the team now in place, they will be able to soon focus on preserving details of the campus rather than restoring.
In the past, there has not been as much time and support as needed to tackle the projects that the Campus Beautification team is taking on. For example, while there are Maintenance personnel in charge of ensuring that there are no electrical issues for light posts, there have not been teams dedicated to checking if said light post has a nice coat of paint.
Within just one summer, the team has already repainted 80% of the handrails across campus. They have also repainted light posts, focusing first on the ones that had begun to rust or whose paint was chipping. The team uses the same glossy black paint to repaint these fixtures, ensuring that there is a clean, uniform look that contributes to the overall atmosphere of FSU. The team has also focused on removing graffiti, fixing bollards, and repairing posterboard signs.
“My favorite part of working with this team is sharing with them the philosophy of why we’re doing what we’re doing,” said Raulerson. “I have this philosophy that everything we do on campus is about recruiting - trying to recruit top-notch professors, administrators, and students. Beyond that, we want to try to create an experience for people that they want their kids to experience. When we keep this campus so beautifully maintained, we make sure FSU is number one in every aspect so there’s no question of where people want to go. It helps us stay ahead of the competition.”
In the future, they hope to grow their efforts to tackle more features across campus as well as move into a mode of preservation for the aspects they have already focused on.
