The students gather for a moment before going to their next class. They are enrolled in Monte Vista Christian School, Watsonville, California, a co-educational and non-denominational institution for students in grades 6 through 12.
Founded in 1926, the school is nestled in the northern California foothills just 20 miles north of Monterey. A 100-acre campus, small class rooms, and full curricula provide an idyllic setting for its 1,000-member student body.
But visitors shouldn't be deceived by the apparent peace and tranquility of the moment. Even when tucked away in classrooms, students can hear the hum of a mower and the soft whine of a trimmer or blower in the distance.
The maintenance of the campus is the responsibility of Tim Wetzel. A Monte Vista graduate, Wetzel doesn't take his job lightly.
"We have a saying around here," he relates. "In everything we do, we strive for kingdom quality, the quality that God would expect from us." That applies to landscaping, just as it does for education, he adds.
In addition to maintaining the turf and 8 acres of landscaping, Wetzel and his 1.5-person crew prep athletic fields, maintain the irrigation system, and install new turf and landscaping areas as growth dictates.
Changing Landscape
Monte Vista has seen some incredible changes. A new library and gymnasium were built in the '80s. More recently, a new administration building, to replace the school's oldest structure destroyed by the '89 earthquake, was completed.
''As far as landscaping goes, the central hub of the campus is pretty much completed," Wetzel explains. "Now we're working our way out toward the perimeter, developing low-maintenance beds and flower beds, and planting a lot of trees."
Twenty-two acres of irrigated turf provide the backdrop for the landscaping. About four years ago the school needed a new mower. It needed something that would mow hills, catch grass, maneuver around and between the landscape and, in the process, avoid scalping the grass.
As Wetzel explains, the choice came down to a Walker and two other mowers. "We set up demonstrations with all three mowers. We liked the interchangeability of the Walker's decks and their free-floating design that avoided scalping.
"We also liked the machine's superior grass-handling, and its size and weight, something that has come in handy this year with the wet spring."
The school purchased a 25-hp Walker with a 48-inch grass-handling deck and 62-inch side-discharge deck. The smaller deck is employed primarily on five smaller lawn areas, with the larger deck mowing the rest. The larger turf areas are left to a Jake Turf Cat.
On average, the Walker mows 10 to 15 acres a week from late February through October. There is some pickup in the fall thanks to a grove of sycamores. When clippings and other debris are caught, they are composted with horse shavings from the school's equestrian center.
Wetzel shares Walker time with other crew members except when it comes to mowing the athletic fields. He likes to keep his eye on the field to spot any weeds, broken sprinklers or other potential problems.
Family Tradition
The grounds maintenance department had done its homework on the new mower, checking references and having in-house mechanics perform an inspection. So when it decided on a machine, it really wasn't a hard sell. Having family members in decision-making positions didn't hurt, either. Wetzel's father, Clark, is the school's president. His mother, Lynda, and older brother Eric are also employed at the school.
In its early years, the school operated a dairy farm, grew its own food and even had a vineyard. Today, it operates a greenhouse and nursery.
The school also does some of its own design and construction, including the building of a new athletic facility with bleachers. It also maintains its own equipment and even comes up with its own innovations. Wetzel says the addition of a second 4.5-gallon fuel tank on the Walker allows him to "mow all day."
Of the 1,000 students enrolled in the school, approximately 100 have rooms on campus as do many of the 100 plus staff members. Wetzel lives 25 minutes from the campus, but still gets to work at 6:30 a.m. and leaves between 3:30 and 4:00 p.m.
Striving for a kingdom quality landscape has its challenges in northern California, especially in the wake of an El Nino winter and spring. Monte Vista Christian School has to stay within a budget that is funded almost entirely by tuition. And like most groundskeepers, Wetzel would like to have more people and equipment to help get his job done.
As Wetzel implied earlier, education and landscaping have more in common than one might think. While perfection is the goal for both, the real challenge occurs in how one attempts to reach that goal.
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