The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 4/29/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Rachel Dembrun Pearla Duarte loads up the bathroom cleaning cart in the Aylesworth building. The custodian group starts at 5 a.m. every morning.

No one takes the day-to-day upkeep of campus more seriously than Roy Pundt and "a.m. team three."

"We're on the front line," the CSU building services manager says as he unlocks a few buildings for his custodian team. "We provide health and safety of the buildings."

The custodians of "team three" arrive at 4:30 a.m, well before the sun brings a new school day to the CSU campus. But Roy, 50, and his lead custodian, Clint Brink, 28, met at their office in Yates Hall at 3:45 a.m. to prepare for their team's arrival.

Another nine teams will clean the 107 building on campus during the early morning and into the night. All told it's about 120 janitors that guard 25,000 plus students from the germs and filth garnered by the daily use of CSU buildings.

And for "Team Three" it's their camaraderie and friendships that get them through their underappreciated job.

"These guys are the best group I've ever worked with," says Roy, who has worked for CSU facilities for the past 17 years. "And they're starting to become family."

This family includes Janet Puckett, 52. Everybody on the team calls her "Trouble."

Puckett has ten years of college education under her utility belt and has spent time in the field studying paleontology. She wears disinfectant in a holster as she tromps from task to task.

Steve Colunga, 61, is a cheerful worker often found whistling as he cleans. He has three children -- all of whom hold degrees from CSU.

Will Conklin, 49, whistles more than Steve. He's an avid golfer.

Jay Daire, 39, has an associate's degree in computer science from Front Range Community College and dreams of one day writing a book.

Kris Skager, 35, also dreams of developing a writing career. He writes poetry in his spare time. He says he took the job to continue the college education he started a decade ago, as each CSU custodian is awarded six free credit hours per semester.

Don Lindon, 59, is also CSU student, working toward a degree since 1968. He's one class away from graduating.

Rosalina Munguia, 59; Perla Duarte, 31; and David Pearce, 44, make up the rest of "Team Three." The team, understaffed the last few months, has one empty slot.

Continued...

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