Mike Pontti (center), who has served Georgetown for almost 50 years, works with landscape crew members Jose M. Reyes and Enrique Salinas
Category: Fall 2020, Georgetown Magazine

Title:Campus Heroes Working in Landscaping

Author: Interviewed by Camille Scarborough
Date Published: November 18, 2020

Mike Pontti has been an integral part of the community for almost 50 years. In this photo he is working with landscape crew members Jose M. Reyes, who has worked for Georgetown for 20 years, and Enrique Salinas, who has worked at Georgetown for three years.

In addition to maintaining lawns, flower beds, shrubs, and trees, the landscaping department is asked to clean sidewalks and hardscape features, pick up trash, and set aside materials for recycling and composting.

Beyond the daily maintenance necessary for a 104-acre campus, there are planning tasks that include:

  • Selecting and planting trees, shrubs, and vines on the new East-West Road on Main Campus
  • Completing the landscape restoration of the Father Heyden Observatory Garden after the final construction of the new intramural field atop Yates Fieldhouse
  • Building the new landscape storage shed near the Medical Center’s helipad
  • Renewing the landscape requirements for stormwater and bioswales in the Reiss Science/Arrupe corridor
  • Working with the Planning Department on the selection of plant material and grading/drainage issues about Cooper Field and the new Healy Cross at Cooper Field.

During the pandemic, those planning tasks have been slowed by COVID-19 testing, he explains, but “we want to be safe among those we work with and for.”

“[Soon I will be retired] and I will certainly miss my work, my fellow colleagues, and everyone I’ve come to know through my years on the Hilltop. Thank you, Georgetown.”

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