Thinking about what a normal day at Cabrini University is like, you may think of a student running to classes or a professor grading papers. You may see one of the many clubs running an event or one of the various athletic teams preparing for a game.
What you do not see is the work going into making Cabrini University maintained and functioning. Especially around the Dixon Center and on the athletic fields, so Cabrini’s sports teams can play and win games almost daily.
Four of these important people that maintain the grounds of Cabrini are Sean Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez, Felix Rodriguez and Augustine Feudale.
A day in the life of working on Cabrini’s grounds, especially on the fields, starts at 7:30 a.m. and ends at about 3:30 p.m. during the business week; however, there are often games or events on weekends which have to allow the fields to be open.
Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez, Felix Rodriguez and Feudale start the early morning off with making sure the leaf-covered Edith Robb Dixon turf field is cleared-off so that it is clean and student-athletes, such as both the men and women’s soccer teams and the field hockey team, can practice or play on the field. Sometimes they need to clean the fields off more than once a day.
Around 2 p.m., the team turns their attention to the tennis courts where they blow the debris and acorns off so that the tennis team can practice or play a match.
The softball field is the main field that mainly needs to be monitored and maintained. Those responsible for maintaining the fields drags the field or makes the field presentable for playing. They also wet down the field to make it playable.
The team also puts the tarp on the field for rain delays during games and takes the tarp on and off the field for practices; they do this with the help of the softball team. In total, it takes about 10 people to drag the tarp on and off the field at any given moment.
In the winter, there is an outside contractor brought in to clear the snow around campus and a lot of time is spent keeping all of Cabrini’s campus open to everyone.
Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez, Felix Rodriguez and Feudale also help the lacrosse teams be able to practice before their spring season starts. Practices start in February, which means a lot of snow, making it harder to maintain the fields and forcing the teams to move inside for practice most of the time.
When not working on Cabrini’s grounds and maintaining the athletic fields, Sean Kelly occasionally takes classes, while Eduardo Rodriguez is taking night classes to earn a degree in marketing. Felix Rodriguez will be taking classes in the spring which will go towards a degree in criminology.
