Mike Rogers began his career with the Frazer Center as a part time seasonal staffer working events in Cator Woolford Gardens. Before long, he became a full time member of the Facilities & Grounds team. With 39 acres, three gardens, several playgrounds, one main building and a handful of outbuildings to maintain, Mike’s work is invaluable to Frazer. And now, as he approaches his 10th anniversary with Frazer, he has been promoted to Facilities & Grounds Manager.

Mike comes from a military family—Marines, Army, Air Force—and decided to go in that direction too by joining the Air Force. He looked forward to a career flying a particular kind of helicopter. As part of his service, Mike was in the honor guard for over a hundred military funerals. “That started weighing on me,” he says. “That was big.” It was big enough that, once his favorite aircraft was retired, he decided to leave the Air Force. 

“I turned and walked the other way,” says Mike, “and I just fell into a path that felt right.” Horticulture became his therapy. “When I get in the dirt my mind works through stuff.”

In 2010 Mike earned his associate’s degree in Environmental Science & Horticulture from Griffin Technical College (now Southern Crescent Tech.) He moved to Atlanta and started working in the landscape industry, but he found the standard practices to be disappointing. “There was a lot of ‘spray and pray,’ trimming, tons of invasives.” Mike was looking for sustainability.

So he kept moving forward, following the path that unfolded in front of him, and he started gigging as a security officer for music events. His roommate was working at Cator Woolford Gardens, and she encouraged him to consider working events there too. 

He did consider it, and when his roommate’s friend from work showed up at their house party, he was convinced. Mike started working at Cator Woolford Gardens, primarily so he could spend more time with Megan, the party guest who eventually became his wife. 

It wasn’t long before a position on the grounds and facilities team opened up at Frazer, and Mike knew this was the next right step for him. “From the start I felt like this is a place where I can help. I can be of purpose.” 

Now approaching his tenth year at Frazer, Mike says there’s never a dull day. “There are so many species of plants that pop up out of the ground that I’ve never heard of. I continually learn new things.” 

One way he learned was by working with Cooper Sanchez, an award-winning garden designer who specializes in the rehabilitation of historic gardens. Mike helped Cooper with the redesign of Cator Woolford Gardens in 2015. “I was a fan of Cooper’s work,” says Mike. “Meg and I used to take a sunset stroll every day through Oakland Cemetery,” which Cooper helped to restore and continues to maintain.

Another thing Mike has learned on the job is the joy of getting to know people with disabilities. “I had very limited exposure to people with disabilities growing up. We were so separated in school.” At Frazer, interacting with the adult participants is one of the perks of his job, and he has become a champion of Frazer’s mission of inclusion. “It’s so important. As soon as you exclude one person, you exclude everybody. That’s my mindset, anyway.”

Mike and Meg have two sons now. The oldest is a graduate of Frazer’s Pre-k program, and the youngest will attend Pre-k soon. Mike is thrilled about Frazer’s outdoor classroom and the development of the nature-based curriculum. He hopes to see school buses bringing children from all around metro Atlanta to Frazer for nature-based learning and fun in the forest. 

If you have been on Frazer’s campus, there’s a good chance you have seen Mike wielding some kind of garden tool, tackling invasives around the forest or nurturing pollinators in the sensory garden. The next time you see him, please help us congratulate him on his promotion.