Celebrating Steve Kulesza’s 25 Years of Dedicated Service

Few know Marian High School better than Steve Kulesza. For 25 years, he has walked the halls of Marian ensuring the integrity of the building and the campus this school calls home. As Director of Facilities, Steve has overseen countless repairs and renovations – always with the calm and affable demeanor for which he has become well known. 

After years spent working in various jobs including on the assembly line at Ford, Steve joined Marian in August 2001 when his sister, then librarian Kathy Cronk, alerted him that the school was hiring.

“She told me all I would have to do is change the light bulbs,” he recalls. “I thought, I can do that. It was much more than that.”

Within six months of arriving at Marian, Steve was promoted to Director of Facilities, a role he has held for more than two decades. And while he has changed hundreds, if not thousands, of light bulbs, he has done so much more.

“I was here for the gym remodel, the cafeteria remodel, the library remodel, and the recent remodel of the science and art wings,” he says. “Each had their own challenges.”

Responsible for the upkeep of the school and its grounds, Steve laughingly counts lining the softball field among his most challenging tasks each season.

“You have to drag the field to make it level, sweep the bases, dig out home plate, line the field with chalk, cut the grass, and put up the homerun fence,” he notes. “It takes a lot of time.”

It’s a task made easier by the helping hands of a supportive team.

“My guys – Kurt, Tom, Joe, and now Cody – are the best,” he says. “I have been blessed with the best workers. These guys bend over backwards to help.”

And while the requests for assistance have never seemed to slow over the years, Steve has always been up for the challenges of each new day.

“If things are always the same, it gets monotonous,” he says. “You need to grow.”

And grow he did. Steve says he’s most proud that he was able to conquer the challenge that the Facilities Director role presented him.

“I wasn’t sure I could do it,” he recalls. “I had never managed anything in my life.”

Steve’s decades of dedicated service prove he was not only up for the challenge, he was meant for it.

“There’s nothing he wouldn’t do,” says Marian President Heather Greig Sofran ‘96. “The building is meticulously maintained. People often tell me time how bright, clean, and beautiful it is, and that’s a direct result of our maintenance team and Steve’s leadership.”

Marian teacher Kelly King has worked closely with Steve and will remember him not only for appearing casually calm at all times, but for sharing his strong faith with those around him.

“I hear him repeat scripture time and again,” she says. “A favorite of his is Hebrews 11:1, which reads ‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen’.”

A new chapter

As the curtain closes on one chapter, it opens on another. Steve will retire to North Carolina and a cabin near his son. He looks forward to enjoying morning coffee in the company of family and 20 resident chickens. While looking forward to retirement, Steve says he’ll miss the deep sense of purpose his role at Marian afforded him.

“You wake up each day, you get dressed, you have purpose coming to Marian,” he says. “I get to work, write my to-do list for the day, eat leftovers – they are everywhere, line the softball field, do gym cleanup. It’s purpose, and I believe it’s a good purpose.”

Yet, when he finally he pulls out of the Marian lot for the last time, Steve knows it’s the people he’ll miss most. He’s thankful, though, that retirement means more time with one person in particular: his three-year-old grandson Aurick.

“I’m looking forward to finding my new purpose,” he says. “I want to be involved in a church ministry, and I want to help raise my grandson.”

As Steve makes his new home down South, his Marian family reminds him that he will always have a home at 7225 Lahser Rd.

Steve, on behalf of the faculty, staff, and students of Marian High School, we thank you for 25 years of faithful  service and wish you abundant blessings in your next chapter.