Mark Marcojos, advisor of the Florida AZ Chapter, with help from two other members, Clifton Cox and Tim Thomas, recently undertook a project to restore the Alpha Zeta plaque on the outside of the Ag Administration building, McCarty A. It’s unknown when the plaque was installed or when it was last cleaned but the McCarty A building has been on the UF campus since 1965.
"I'm trying to find out when the plaque was put up. If the plaque was put up in 1970, that's 40 years of oxidation we're trying to remove.” said Marcojos.
Mark said Tim Thomas really wanted to clean the plaque last year but they never got around to it. This year, Clifton and Mark decided they were going to clean it. The project was born on a guy's urge to have projects.
"We had no idea it would be so much work.” said Mark.
The three guys also had to learn how to properly restore the plaque and what type of products to use that would not damage it.
"It's a fun summer project.” said Mark.
The three combined have put in over 25 hours so far cleaning and restoring the fraternity plaque and estimate to only be 70-80 percent complete. A lot of the detail work still needs to be done; getting in the nooks and cracks.
"It's an ongoing process. Then we're going to seal and polish it with a wax coating.”
The wax coating should help protect the plaque and keep it from tarnishing so quickly. There have even been talks of turning this into a yearly service/maintenance project among the fraternity brothers.
Great work Mark, Clifton and Tim!