Mike Ellerman Receives UMSL Hero Award

UMSL Daily -- August 15, 2024
BY RYAN FAGAN

The UMSL campus looks significantly different than it did when Ellerman worked his first day as a groundskeeper back in September 1985, but the pride he takes in doing his job well, entering his 40th year tasked with keeping the campus looking good, hasn’t changed at all.

“We’re the front door,” Ellerman said. “We are what people see when they come in off Florissant Road. We’re the first impression. And if it doesn’t look good coming in, they’ll wonder what the rest of the campus is going to look like. Does that scare someone away? Will they think, ‘They don’t take care of the outside, so do they take care of the inside?’”

It’s his job, as he sees it, to make sure that never happens.

Ellerman showed up to his interview for the Hero Awards story with weed remnants and grass clippings all over his clothes, unintentionally showing his dedication to his job. He had checked the time and realized he had 15 extra minutes before he needed to head to the Millennium Student Center for his conversation, which he figured was just enough time to knock out an area near his shop that needed a thorough once-over with a weed trimmer.

He checked that task off his list, then headed off to his meeting.

“He has been the one to say, ‘Yes, I can do that!’” said Megan Green Simonds, the director of New Student Programs & Campus Visit Experiences, who nominated him for the award. “Mike has trimmed trees so our golf carts can easily go around campus. In addition, he has helped provide his expertise with vehicles with the 12-passenger van and golf carts and informed us of construction issues when it can impact our tour routes. Especially in the winter, he has helped us by distributing salt to interior campus buildings and been mindful of the conditions of campus for the safety of guests. You will find Mike around campus early mornings during the week and sometimes weekends, going above and beyond helping to update campus to ensure it looks the best to our UMSL community. He truly embodies making our UMSL campus feel like home.”

Ellerman’s official job title says “small engine mechanic,” reflective of a promotion he received a few decades ago, shortly after he’d started as a groundkeeper, but it’s not fully reflective of what he does on a daily basis. With most of the mowing contracted out, there aren’t as many engines to repair, but there’s plenty of work to be done around campus, a lengthy list of “little things” that add up to making a big impression.

The number of employees in Ellerman’s group has fluctuated over the years; his wife, Becky, worked with him on the crew on two different occasions in the past. Now, though, with contractors involved with the grass cutting – that used to take most of his time, with so many green spaces on campus – it’s just Ellerman and John Bale.

“He’s my partner here,” Ellerman said. “We do all the trash cans on campus, litter pickup and the small jobs like pulling weeds in the flower beds or planting flowers.”

Keeping the campus looking good is a team effort.

“I see almost everything, but sometimes I don’t,” he said. “It’s good to have other eyes out there. I don’t mind. Put in a work order and either we’ll get to it, or we’ll get the contractor on it.”