3/5/08:

Maintaining the House - Mike Van Drisse

Good morning everyone. For those of you that do not know me, I am Mike Van Drisse the Maintenance supervisor here at SNC. Welcome to God’s house.  I am here today representing the Maintenance Department along with my staff, Stann Stepien, Larry Karabush, Steve Srnka, and Brian Pautz. Our theme today is “Maintaining the House”.

There is no doubt that a huge part of what we do affects the day-to-day lives of everyone on this campus. This campus is a home away from home for most of our students for about eight months out of each school year.  If our students do not have a functional working and living space there is a good chance that we would not retain them.  This goes the same for faculty, staff, and our hourly people.  Each and everyone here is equally important.

When I think of these campus buildings, I think of the protection they provide, starting with the foundation all the way to the top of the roof. The Facilities staff might be considered the foundation of the College. We protect the students, staff and visitors by providing them a warm, safe place to gather and learn. We light the rooms so we can see when we work and study. We paint the walls to encourage thought and creativity. Basically we are providing that solid foundation.

A few weeks ago when I was in the lower level of Main Hall (sometimes referred to as the garden level I learned that the building rests on a 26” thick foundation.” It is MASSIVE’. Many of you know that Main Hall was built over 100 years ago. I compared this to how buildings are built today. New building foundations average between 12-14” thick. Although technology has changed a lot over the years by using additives and reinforcing bars in the concrete to help it to survive the elements. I cannot believe our new building foundations are as solid as the Massive foundation at Main Hall that was built over 100 years ago. Without this solid base the walls would crumble down around us. I think that it is symbolic that we house most of our leaders in Main Hall. It is there that they can connect with the Norbertine tradition and mission our founders based everything on. It is there that they can make the difficult decisions that lead us in to the future. When I think of leadership, I think of a verse in the bible in Hebrews which states “Obey your leaders”.” Put yourself under their authority”. “They keep watch over you”. Those leaders could be considered the foundation of the College, just like the Department of Facilities bringing their talents to make St. Norbert College a success.

Our mission in Facilities is to continually maintain and improve God’s houses. I looked up the definition of the word “maintenance” in the Webster Dictionary and found it described as “something that maintains or supports”. I think that describes us very well. We are continually maintaining the buildings and supporting almost all departmental needs and campus functions throughout out the Campus community. Our mission here for the Maintenance dept. is to provide the best quality service possible. I think that “Maintaining the House” and providing service is very important to the institution and also building a trusting relationship with the college community and knowing that when we are needed we will be there to provide the necessary service is also key.

Many times you will hear the phrase “I have been blessed”. I believe God does bless people and has blessed me in many ways. Each of my staff brings some sort of talent. A gift from God. Whether it’s their ability to paint this church, erect the cross in the balcony of this church, or move a department from one building to another, I recognize a different talent in each member and realize that I have been blessed.

Whatever your role may be here at Saint Norbert College, whether you are a Student, Faculty member, Staff member, or work in Administration, I ask you, what do you do to help build up our Campus community? How does what you do from day to day help to build and support our foundation? How do your efforts maintain the house? Maybe more importantly, what more can I do to maintain this house to make it an even better place?

As you entered today, you were handed a memento from the Maintenance Dept. This memento represents a building. As you look around, you’ll notice there are many different shapes, materials, and sizes of houses just like the buildings and people on this campus. Let it be a reminder of the diverse talents we bring and the different ways we can help to “Maintain the House”.

We will have a short power point presentation to show everyone some examples of how the Maintenance Staff is working to “Maintain the House” here at St. Norbert College. While you are watching the presentation I challenge you to ask yourself, how can I build up the St. Norbert College Community? How do my efforts serve as a foundation?   

Please remain seated after the Power Point Presentation. Steve will have a closing prayer followed by a closing song (City of God)

Thank you for being part of Common Prayer today.