FARMINGTON – Rita Smith takes pride in keeping the grounds at the University of Maine in Farmington looking good.

Smith, of Temple, was the first female custodian hired at the college 28 years ago, she said. She has been one of three groundskeepers and landscapers caring for the university’s grounds for the past two years.

She drove the John Deere garden tractor around a tree at Abbott Park mulching up the leaves as she went on Tuesday.

“I love it,” Smith said of her job. “I love being outside. I love the crew I work with. I love that I’m able to make a difference.”

Smith, Bobby McCully and Mark Tyler take care of the grounds of the expanding campus.

“I never get it done. That’s the truth. There’s no such thing as being done,” Smith said.

Their duties are pretty much self-explanatory.

“Look around. What you see on the ground is what we do,” she said. “It’s a pretty neat job, really.”

With that, Smith put her earplugs back in and started up the tractor before she drove off to get more fuel.