Physical Plant prepares Elon for commencement
12,000 chairs, 190 workers, one Elon University graduation. When more than 1,000 Elon seniors in the Class of 2014 graduate Under the Oaks on the morning of Saturday, May 24, hundreds of hours of work will have already gone into preparing for them to receive their diplomas. Nearly 200 Physical Plant employees — both full-time and part-time — will play an active role in everything from hanging flower baskets to placing chairs with “military precision” under the shade of the oak trees according to Robert Buchholz, director of the physical plant. “As exams are finishing up, we’re getting in and making sure everything looks bright and shiny for parents coming in and alumni to go through places that they have gone through before,” he said. It was especially important for the groundskeepers to tend to Elon’s flowers and lawns after the past unusually harsh North Carolina winter paid its toll not only in canceled classes, but also in damages to the campus’ carefully-tended plants. “It’s tough when there’s a rough winter,” Buchholz said.
