California
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August 1, 2024
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Student Repair Crew
Members of the student drywall-repair crew, Ben Sturkie (’25), Owen Sweeney (’27), Josh Rosales (’27), and Evan Graham (’27)

 

After over 200 hours of damage repair following last fall’s earthquake, St. Albertus Magnus Science Hall is finally looking more itself again, thanks to the efforts of a small team of Thomas Aquinas College students.

Ever since the 5.1-magnitude quake struck the California campus last August, College officials have been working hard to restore the buildings affected by the natural disaster. Thanks to a $1 million grant from the Fletcher Jones Foundation, staff and student work-study crews have been able to get a head start on some $4 million worth of estimated repairs, doing their best to economize along the way.

“We are grateful to the Fletcher Jones Foundation and deeply appreciative of its generous grant,” says Mark Kretschmer, vice president for operations. “We aim to be good stewards of these funds to accomplish as many repairs with them as we can.”

 

Albertus Magnus Hall

 

One of these crews is composed of students who have been tasked with repairing the many cracks in the drywall of campus buildings: Marie Carey (’24), Patrick Salinas (’25), Ben Sturkie (’25), Max Alvarez (’26), Gianna Langley (’26), Michael Rivera (’26), Carmen Bishop (’27), Joey Esser (’27), Evan Graham (’27), George Powell (’27), Josh Rosales (’27), and Owen Sweeney (’27). “There are some repairs that require hiring contractors, but training the students to do drywall is definitely a great way to steward our funds,” says Operations Project Manager Thomas Becher.

In several buildings, the earthquake popped off metal corner beads and tore drywall tape joints from most door and window openings. Yet undeterred by the extent of the damage, the TAC repairs crew began work soon after returning for the 2024 spring semester. The workers started with the Fritz B. Burns Auditorium in St. Cecilia Hall — which had significant damage in the foyer on its 40-foot-high ceiling — before moving on to St. Albertus Magnus Hall.

Photos: Repairs in St. Albertus Magnus Science Hall
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There are four main steps to fixing each crack in the drywall: prep, fill and repair, texture, and paint. Many of the students involved had limited experience fixing drywall, but in true TAC fashion, they stepped up to the challenge and learned their roles quickly. Between classes, the crew drilled away at the cracks, doing its best to keep noise to a minimum. The group swiftly fell into a routine: Each student took a portion of the whole job and mastered the craft, preparing the repair for the next step.

“Our entire team came together, and it made things really efficient,” says Owen. “Each guy has a different role: One person preps, the next guy fixes the crack, the next textures the wall, and the last one finishes off with paint.”

Working as a team, the crew finished repairing an entire hallway in one Saturday. It spent weeks starting work early in the mornings, sacrificing precious sleep to accelerate the process. Thanks to the students’ efficiency and devotion to the project, they even managed to keep their material costs under $1,000 by finding creative ways to reuse pricey products.

“The texture bags we were using were tiny, and cost $10 each,” explains Benjamin. “We figured out that, by mixing our own, cheaper texturing mud and reusing the bags we already had, we could cut the price of the bags we would have bought down to 30 cents each.”

Thrifty fixes did not cheapen the overall effect, however, as St. Albert’s looks better than ever. The crew sought to restore the science hall as closely as possible to its former glory, repainting entire walls and ceilings to ensure the patches blended seamlessly.

“Our job as the paint and drywall crew is to beautify campus,” says Mr. Sturkie. “Our goal is invisible repair work, making sure that the job is so well done that you don’t even know there was a problem there before. To do that, we keep two things in mind: stellar prep work and technical craftsmanship.”

Over the summer, repairs have continued. Students have finished fixing three of the residence halls and are currently working on a fourth, St. Monica Hall. The next two buildings on the docket are St. Bernadine of Siena Library and the faculty and administration building, St. Thomas Hall, for which repairs will begin during the academic year.

“This is a testament to the dedication of our work-study students,” says Mr. Kretschmer. “They are gaining a good work ethic and valuable skills, as well as helping us keep our costs down so we can continue to offer them an excellent education for an affordable price.”