SCENE THE
THE
Fall Issue 2
October 21, 2022
THESCENEFP.COM
www.thescenefp.com
Inflation woes See pages 2-3
‘Fear Street’ review See page 6
St. Louis Community College at Forest Park
College surplus heads to landfill
By Cristian Romero The Scene staff St. Louis Community College has thrown away hundreds of desks, chairs, filing cabinets and other items from the Forest Park campus in the past few weeks, including some in good condition. Facilities workers stacked it on the loading dock before hoisting it into semi-trailers. “The items in the containers are surplus items that couldn’t be used by the college,” said John Duarte, lead maintenance manager for STLCC. “Following board policy, once it’s determined there is no use for items in the district, the school makes attempts to find other organizations that could use them. If those attempts fail, the items are thrown away.” That seems wasteful to Songhai Crittenden, 19, a Forest Park student who plans to major in electrical engineering. “There’s multiple things you can do with the furniture, like donating it to homeless shelters or the Salvation Army,” he said. “And I believe the furniture can be reused.” Forest Park practice regarding disposal of unwanted furniture and equipment has changed over the years. In the late 2000s, facilities employees took it to a warehouse leased by STLCC, just east of campus. Faculty and staff could scavenge for items before the college held a public sale. “The lease on the warehouse ran out, on top of the college running out of money,” Duarte said. “The college decided just to no longer keep the warehouse, as the cost of business was outweighing the profits.” After STLCC vacated the warehouse, surplus furniture and equipment were stored in a large room in the basement of the Forest Park campus. Faculty and staff continued to scavenge for items needed in their offices and classrooms. “Afterwards, we got a recycling contractor (Midwest Recycling Center) that would pick up all our
See Surplus page 8
Chairs, filing cabinets and other furniture and equipment are stacked on the Forest Park loading dock before workers hoist it into a semitrailer for disposal.
President promises campus improvements By Theodore Geigle The Scene staff Signs of neglect could be found throughout the Forest Park campus over the summer. Buildings scarred by crumbling concrete, rusted panels and cracked walls. Weedy flower beds and stone-filled planters. More than a dozen trees dead or dying. Ripped banners. Dry fountains. “They need more flowers,” said nursing student Bridget Campbell, 27, who was walking near the cafeteria with her friend, Nautica Jones, on a scorching hot day. “It brings out a different type of personality, in my opinion. Now it looks plain. Some people like to stop and smell the roses. I’d also like to see a little waterfall. Nothing too extravagant, just something relaxing.” Workers removed ripped banners and did some weeding before the start of fall semester, but many problems remain. President Julie Fickas said in an interview that the college has an improvement plan in the works. “The main problem we have with our plan is that we need to get ahold of the funding first,” she said. “(Improvements) won’t happen all at once. It may be done in phases. That is what I expect.” Fickas announced in the Oct. 10 employee newsletter that workers will begin painting windowsills and metal trim on buildings later this month. Heather Hemingway, an instructor in the Longbow Academic Readiness Accelerator program, thinks the new Center for Nursing and Health Sciences and adjoining plaza with “Light Walls” has improved the look
See more photos, pages 4-5
Weeds sprout in a granite-filled planting bed on the north side of the Forest Park library building along Oakland Avenue, next to a rusty railing. of campus. “I want them to keep going,” she said. “If I had any advice, it would be that they need more shade.”
10 years of change
For years, Forest Park’s minimalist brick architecture was accented by trees, bushes and colorful flowers that filled landscaping beds, aggregate planters and window boxes. That changed with the 2017 departure of Facilities Manager Dennis Kozlowski, who was known for his green thumb. The following year, officials said the college was transitioning to a landscaping plan that included more native plants to increase sustainability. Facilities removed colorful bushes that
lined the cafeteria and surrounded a statue next to C Tower. They stopped planting petunias and other annuals in the summer and mums in the fall. “Next year, we should have some daffodils, some crocus, some freesia, a little bit of color,” said Wolf Veverka, facilities supervisor at the time. “We all work at this together because, really, the students are our customers. We need to do what we can, in the area we can, to make the school as appealing and attractive as we can.” In 2018, the college planned to build a new butterfly garden to replace one that was destroyed during construction related
See Campus page 4
Container garden helps feed students By Obersy Robles Valdez The Scene staff Forest Park faculty and staff are trying their hands at container gardening on campus. They’re growing tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, cucumbers and other vegetables and herbs in the courtyard between the Hospitality Studies building and former cafeteria. Biology professor Angela NewMyer spearheaded the garden project during the college’s COVID-19 shutdown. “Originally, the group was only three people,” she said. “But now that this group has become a whole committee, we’ve decided to make the presence of the plants a little bigger.” The committee has 17 members. For now, it only includes faculty and staff. Garden produce goes to the Archers Market, a small food pantry for Forest Park
See Garden page 8
Photo by Obersy Robles Valdez
Biology professor Angela NewMyer spearheaded the garden project in the courtyard between the Hospitality Studies Center and former cafeteria.