Meet Julius Monk
“Building Futures” is not just a motto. It's also a lifestyle for Julius Monk, director of construction for Guilford County Schools (GCS). Monk is one important human building block of building futures for the children of GCS.
Monk’s responsibilities vary from day-to-day and range from researching changing cost trends of materials to actually going on-site to monitor progress of various projects around the district. Monk stresses, “I have to know the needs of each special student.”
A lot of work goes into constructing a school. Monk searches out local contractors that show the community’s diversity. He make sure that the buildings meet state regulations, oversees the finances, carefully constructs 3-D models to depict the correct design and identifies possible barriers of each project. Monk also keeps designers on task with permits, ensures information about each building is accessible to emergency personnel and maintenance, keeps constituents abreast of the progress of each unique project and oversees the careful use of taxpayer’s dollars.
“I’m a whole lot busier,” says Monk when he refers to his job after the passing of the 2008 School Bond. Monk works with Donna Bell, director of facilities and planning, Noah Tiluk, the district’s demographer, Andy LaRowe, executive director of facilities and construction management, Leo Bobadilla, chief operations officer, and many others to achieve the common goal of successfully building futures. Monk insists that building futures is not just a goal for the educators of Guilford County, but for him and his colleagues as well. The success of each building constructed needs each of them to work together cohesively.
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About Julius Monk
Education: NC A&T State University
Degree: Construction Management
Native of: Duplin County
Family: Wife Selena of seven years and son Tyler, 19 months
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Monk commutes every day to work in Guilford County, which clearly shows commitment and enjoyment of his job. Monk proclaims, “You couldn’t find a better group of people to work with.” Monk enjoys his job as a whole, but he loves going out to the sites and seeing the kids. Monk says, “I want to show the children that all the math, science and the other subjects that they are learning are not useless, but are used to construct the very building that they are being educated in.”
Monk believes that the work he does directly benefits how GCS students learn: “It is important to look beyond the bricks—to what is going to benefit and raise the test scores of the children of GCS.”
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