The birds are chirping. A light breeze makes the budding leaves on the trees rustle. The snow is melted (hopefully for good) and people walking around campus have shorts and T-shirts on. All of this can only mean one thing: It’s spring.

Spring officially started on March 20, and in the hope of brighter things to come, the Creightonian took a look at what goes on around campus as the semester nears an end, as well as the psychological effects of the longer days and warmer weather.

In full bloom

As the last freeze draws nearer and nearer, normally in the first few weeks of May, Facilities Management is also drawing closer to celebrating spring in its own way: planting flowers around campus.

“The first thing we do is a spring cleanup around campus,” said Louis Marcuccio, associate director of Facilities Management.

Due to the long and harsh winter, however, this spring cleanup is happening later than normal.

“While we were shoveling snow in February, we were reminiscing about how in past years we’ve been mulching or pruning and doing things of that nature, or even already starting spring cleanup,” horticulturist Jessica Heller said. “We just started spring cleanup last week, and in the past that’s been a February start date for that task.”

The first step in the cleanup process is getting rid of signs of winter, especially eliminating gravel from the flowerbeds. After that is done, groundskeepers lay down compost; then they go through and till each flowerbed. After that, the waiting begins. No plants can be put in the ground until the final freeze has come and gone.

The equipment Facilities uses also has to undergo a transformation from winter to spring. The trucks have to be switched from being prepared for snow removal to being prepared for spring cleanup.

The task of deciding which plants go where falls to Heller.

“We try to rotate through and change as needed,” she said. “Some things stay the same because they’re very dear to Father Schlegel’s heart or they just work. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. We do try to mix it up just to keep it fresh and interesting.”

Heller estimated that Facilities would spend $35,000 on planting the annual flowers in the spring. It will also take two to three semitrailer loads of mulch to put a fresh layer on all of the flowerbeds that don’t get new plants.

As for replacing sod, Pederson can see Facilities using 50,000 square feet of sod to replace the damaged or dead sod.

As the weather starts getting warmer, more and more students will be joining the groundskeepers outside, much to their delight.

“Many of our groundskeepers have been here for quite a few years, and it never fails, every year everyone’s attitude markedly changes when that transition comes from winter to spring,” Heller said. “You can definitely see people kind of coming out of their winter freeze.

“We get a little lonely during the colder months. It is great to see all the students and staff come out of hibernation. It’s nice to have all that around you. It’s a good atmosphere.”

Man, I feel good

It’s a nice spring day. The sun is shining in the windows. Then, the phone rings. The person on the other end asks you one question: On a scale of one to 10, how satisfied are you with your life? What if the same question were asked of you on a rainy day. On which day would your response be higher?

According to Dr. Corey Guenther, assistant professor of psychology, most people would have a happier outlook on life during the sunny day.

“That suggests right there, there’s something about it being bright and sunny,” Guenther said. “It can actually impact something as broad as how happy or satisfied we are with our life. Clearly the good weather has a profound impact on the way we see ourselves and the way we approach the world.”

Guenther said something as simple as seeing Facilities Management outside tending to flowers could raise one’s attitude because of the positive associations between seeing flowers and the feelings attributed to being around them.

“When you see flowers blooming, that produces an affective emotional reaction that isn’t there throughout the winter months,” Guenther said. “That develops through experience. We know that when it’s warm out, we have positive emotional experiences.”

There are other factors that influence our mood. Longer days mean more light. More light means our bodies produce less melatonin, which is a sleep-inducing hormone. As a result, people are more awake and alert during the spring and summer. Another factor can be linked to nostalgia.

“When they go to a lake or a beach or to a pool, that can churn up all kinds of fond memories,” Guenther said. “It can make you think of all the good times you had as a child growing up, as a teen, as a college student during the summer. These things all become activated.”

Finally, spring and summer both satisfy our needs to be social butterflies.

“Another reason why people might feel happier and have a better outlook on life during the summer months,” Guenther said, “is because, hey, one of our basic needs is to be social and there’s simply more opportunities to be social during the summer than during the winter.”

So put the doldrums of winter behind you, take out the shorts – maybe keep that coat around just in case – and get outside, because spring is here, and all of it’s beautiful offerings await.