Page 29 - Laker Connection Fall 2015

Staff Profile
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mosT oTher colleges are JusT concreTe, buT clayTon sTaTe is your personal backyard.
Assistant Director of Landscape Management
Justin Brooks, assistant director of the Landscape Management Department, brings nature’s beauty and awareness to Clayton State University’s 192 acres, across the main campus, Lucy Huie Hall, and Clayton State East.
Brooks began working at Atlanta Botanical Gar- dens as a horticulturalist then moved on as a grounds supervisor for all of Fayette County in the Buildings and Grounds Department. With 20 years of landscaping experience, Brooks has been with Clayton State University for four years.
In 2014, Clayton State was designated a Tree Campus USA, an Arbor Day Foundation program partnered with Toyota and founded in 2008 which, “helps colleges and universities around the country establish and sustain healthy community forests.” Every year, the University must renew their pro- gram accreditation by establishing and maintain- ing a Campus Tree Advisory Committee, developing a Campus Tree Care Plan, a Campus Tree Program with Dedicated Annual Expendi- tures, observe an Arbor Day, and execute a yearly Service Learning Project to engage the community in a tree-related educational project.
Brooks, chair of the Campus Tree Advisory Com- mittee, enjoys taking part in the Arbor Day cele- brations, which are observed on the best tree-planting time of the year, and are appropri- ately celebrated with a service learning project. This year, Clayton State held the “Trees Made Real” event, a play off the “Dreams Made Real” mantra which parallels bringing ideas into exis- tence through hard work and dedication. Led by the Tree Committee, the group planted 54 trees and also had guided tours by biology professor Dr. Jere Boudell.
The Landscape Management Department main- tains Clayton State’s many trees by adding them to GPS to track when they need to be pruned and
what their ages are. This allows Brooks’ team to know when trees need maintenance during the daily checks and up keep of the Clayton State campuses.
“It’s great to be outdoors and not just in an office all day,” Brooks says. “To take something, bare or overgrown, and redo it to be more colorful for the students... We live to please the students; compli- ments make my day.”
Brooks says his pride is reflected throughout his Landscape Management Department, because many come to work with ideas and collaborate to put those ideas into action. “For 20 years I’ve done this, and this is the best group of guys I’ve had to work with,” Brooks says, naming Rick Pascual, William Bedingfield, Trevor Barzey, Nick Mc- Card, Jimmy McCard, Jose Diaz, Mike Balde- more, Austin Toland, Xavier Bryant and Phalando Lawson.
“Most other colleges are just concrete, but Clayton State is your personal backyard,” Brooks says, proud that his team has added more than 200 trees to the campus last year. As of May, his team has already added 75 more for 2015.
BY SIERA BLASCO
JusTin brooks
SPRING 2015 27
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