SM East custodian Price Wright’s alarm blared, the red lighting read 4 a.m.
In 15 minutes, he would be ready for the day, loading his gear into his 2019 Dodge Journey, just in time to leave for SM East at 4:15 a.m.
This is Wright’s morning routine, he’s perfected after 17 years at SM East.
After two and a half hours of driving through the morning traffic from his house in Gladstone, Wright pulls into the SM East parking lot at exactly 6:45 a.m.
For Wright, though, the drive is worth it for the connections he makes with those at SM East and to have the chance to positively impact his community.
“The work and seeing kids’ faces [make it worth it],” Wright said. “They give me life, man, life to live.”
After working at SM East in various departments ranging from carpentry to maintenance, Wright is retiring to spend more time with his family and continue smaller carpentry jobs, like building dressers and decks.
At the beginning of his time at SM East, Wright worked the night shift — 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. — mopping floors and cleaning bathrooms.
For three months in 2010, his extra task was building The Columbia Brew — the SM East coffee shop. From 9 to 11 p.m., after he finished his usual duties on the night shift, Wright worked to singlehandedly transform the small broom closet next to room 413 into Columbia Brew.
From planning out a design to building the counters and painting the walls, The Columbia Brew is Wright’s.
And after he finished the coffee shop, he built the four coffee carts that now roam the halls of SM East, delivering coffee to teachers.
Before the coffee shop, while Wright was on the carpentry team at SM East, his first job was building the doors that are still used to this day. Every single wood door, from the hinges to the handles, Wright helped make to replace the previous set.
No job is too small, like the metal lancer next to the main staircase that Wright brought home to fix. The painting, former Student Resource Officer Tony Woollen asked him to hang because Woollen knew Wright “hangs things that won’t fall off.”
“He's definitely a person, I would say, [that] he’s not like a coworker,” lead custodial manager Chris Garrett said. “I'll miss the coworker that I had as a friend.”
Wright says people tell him he should’ve retired 10 years ago. But he stayed.
He stayed to keep fixing the place he loves.
And he’ll keep fixing, keep building, keep making connections, until the last hour of his shift on June 1.
After all, there’s always something else to be fixed.
Price Wright's story is a masterclass in human capital value-how dedication and skilled hands build not just structures, but legacies. His transition from maintenance to carpentry highlights the power of transferable skills. It reminds us that the greatest rewards often come after years of commitment, whether that's building a life or enjoying some well-deserved leisure time at a platform like the fff777 club. Inspiring stuff!