Student-to-Gardener Ratio

Trinity has long touted its incredible student-to-faculty ratio, currently sitting at 9-to-1. But did you really live on campus for three or four years without snickering about its student-to-gardener ratio? “One might even say,” cites a March 1995 Trinitonian article, “the gardener-to-student ratio is nearly as famous as Trinity’s academic reputation.” In the above 1995 Trinitonian photo, a groundskeeper cares for caladiums in the campus greenhouse.

Long part of campus lore, Trinity’s exact student-to-gardener ratio has fluctuated over time. In October 1991, Kiplinger’s Magazine named Trinity a “best college buy” noting that “this private school reported has the highest student-gardener ratio in the nation.” In a 1994 issue of the Trinitonian, columnist Amy L. Robinson ’97 estimated that ratio as 15-to-1. And in 1998, junior Michael Emshoff used his one-liner in the Mirage to call for more gardeners at Trinity… OK, OK, we get the joke.

But let’s face it, folks: Without the dedicated help and attention of the groundskeeping staff in Facilities Services, our campus would still look like—and radiate the Texas heat of—a “limestone jungle” (in O’Neil Ford’s own words).

“I was amazed at college life. The girls amazed me, the boys amazed me, my teachers amazed me, freshman biology amazed me. But the most amazing thing was the student-to-gardener ratio.” – Peter Davis, Trinitonian, April 1987

Did you know that Trinity had a reputation in San Antonio for saving living trees and providing them new homes? In the 1950s and ’60s, groundskeepers rallied to save a set of live oak trees that were removed from the construction site of the Sears-Roebuck building in downtown San Antonio (currently the site of the Central Library). Trinity’s staff uprooted, transported, and transplanted the trees that now thrive around first-year residence halls and Cardiac Hill. 

Or have you read about June Dominguez, the groundskeeper who dedicated more than 50 years to Trinity nursing injured trees back to health and gaining expertise in native Texas landscaping? Dominguez began his groundskeeping duties shortly after the quarry campus had been purchased, charged with enhancing the surroundings of the acclaimed campus architecture. His spirit has lived in on countless other grounds maintenance staff who often cite his leadership and devotion to his craft.

If you weren’t woken up by the sound of monster riding, if you weren’t almost run over by a golf cart with weed-wacker racks, if you were never blown off the sidewalk by a gas-powered leaf blower, or if you didn’t experience the complete calm and serenity from the most perfectly manicured and deliciously smelling 100+ acres walking to the library in the early morning hours—well, where were you that whole time?