Special projects director shares upgrades, beautification vision

Steve Villines is the director of special projects on campus. He is involved with any renovation or special project on campus. Villines was a part of some projects such as the installation of LED lights in both the high school and elementary buildings, and also preparing our sports fields.  

Planning for the school’s future requires someone with vision and someone who is willing to work with others. Villines believes his role includes giving advice but also helping others establish their plans for the school.

“As needs arise or as we plan for our future, or anything to do with the improvement or enhancement of the school, those are all the things that I can be involved in,” Villines said. “I’m usually involved in a project by developing a plan for the project, coming up with money by fundraising, and getting people to donate. I also just offer my advice.”

Past jobs provided Villines the skills and experience needed to come work on campus. Skills needed to be the director of special projects include project management, accounting and distribution. 

“What I’m doing for Fresno Christian are things that throughout my career I’ve built up to,” Villines said. “I’ve been in management, the director of government business for our company, in distribution sales, a representative for those distribution sales and corporate accounts. A lot of the jobs I’ve had included project management on large business opportunities, down to learning how to work with people and be able to communicate to build relationships.”

Villines left his previous job because he wanted to do more than manage returns and profit. Working in the pharmaceutical and biomedical field, Villines had to travel across southern and northern California on a regular basis.

“The jobs that I have had in the past, particularly the past 5-7 years, included a lot of travel,” Villines said. “I was flying across the country or driving to southern California, because that was where the biomedical and pharmaceutical industries are located. I left because I had to spend a lot of time away from home and my family, and it just got old. Although it was fun to work for a $4B company, I realized there had to be more than that. Doing this job makes me feel like I’m doing something for a greater cause.”

From working hands-on in the athletic training room to offering advice on projects, Villines is involved in projects across the whole campus. Villines is currently working on the plans for a new playground behind the elementary building. 

“I am working on the addition of a playground around the back of Building 5,” Villines said. “Currently, students play in a parking lot or need to be lead over to an old playground. We would like to build a very nice, large play structure. It will be safer, and be more fun and will cut down pickup and drop off time.”

One of Villines’s first projects on campus was starting the Athletic Booster Program. This program funds campus renovations, such as the football passing machine, ice maker and improvements to the baseball diamond. Currently, the booster club is finishing a new athletic training facility. These facilities will benefit the training of multiple sports programs at the school. 

“Starting the booster program was one of the things I wanted to start when I first came on board because it all comes back to improving and the enhancement of the school,” Villines said. “I looked at the goals I had for the school and segmented the different programs into booster programs, in order to enhance the different programs. I started with athletics because that is the first thing that many people see when looking at the school, and it strengthened the community of the athletics program.”

Many students appreciate what Villines and the booster program have done for the athletics program. Blake Burdan, ‘20, shows this appreciation for the improvement of athletic facilities.  

“Coming to Fresno Christian from a 1,400 student school, I was not expecting the athletics to be this way,” Burdan states, “We had nice facilities at my other school, so I’m happy that Mr. Villines is changing these facilities so that we can be in tip-top shape.”

Sophomore Avery Jones appreciates Villines’ support for the sports programs on campus.

“I think Mr. Villines brings new ideas to the school which is beneficial for not only the students but also the campus,” Jones said. “He is also a great encourager to all the sports teams here at Fresno Christian. I really appreciate how much of a encourager he is to me when I play tennis.”

Many of the projects that Villines is apart of require student involvement. Villines talks about how high school students can help be apart of projects and get their parents involved.

“I think that the more they can get involved and encourage parents to get involved is a great thing,” Villines said. “We have only a little bit of people doing the majority of the work, it’s the 80/20 rule but in our case its 95/5 rule. There are a few people doing a lot of work out of their heart to see major things happen. Just encouraging their parents to come out and help in any way they can, to build a culture of service, that gets things done at school and in our community.”

The whole Villines family is involved in Fresno Christian. Hope Villines, Steve’s wife, is the head cheer coach and his son, Tyler Villines, ’18, is the captain of the football team. Hannah Villines, ’21, his daughter, plays on the varsity tennis team and plans to play varsity basketball for the school.

For more articles, read: Michelle Warkentin prepares to part ways with campus.

This author can be reached via email: [email protected].