As a student, I hear these complaints while walking through campus, in the grocery store and in a substantial amount of conversations I either am participating in or eavesdropping in on. I had known students wanted more out of the university, but I didn’t realize we are also expecting a lot from the city of Platteville. Not until Platteville City Manager Larry Bierke was a guest speaker in my state and local gov­ernment class did I fully understand that the university and the city have to work together to make a lot of what we want happen.

In his presentation Bierke informed my class that the students at University of Wiscon­sin-Platteville are about half of the population of Platteville.

“We are trying to implement more student voices and opinions in decisions,” Bierke said. “Students should have more of a voice because of their overwhelming presence.”

We are here for a majority of the year and the city would be very different without us. Why can’t we make it different while we are here?

Believe it or not, the Platteville Common Council used to have students carrying a dis­trict for years with a yearly roll over. Several years ago it seemed students stopped being in­terested in city government engagement.

As of now, and not necessarily with student input, the city of Platteville is in the process of welcoming both a Dunkin’ Donuts and a Jimmy John’s. Who’s excited? The Platteville Police Department now has a prescription drug drop box to deposit old medications in. Also the PPD is implementing a free text notification service that can be found on the city’s website.

In a one-on-one interview with Bierke, I learned that if students want to see more chang­es happen in the city in their favor, a student Common Council member would hold a lot of weight based on the council’s status and power base.

There are multiple city boards and com­mittees with over 20 vacant positions that stu­dents are welcome to apply for. For example, the Historic Preservation Commission needs to fill a spot. Bierke said that the presence of an engineering student could greatly benefit the commission because of their knowledge base on maintaining and developing historical buildings.

The Safe Routes To School Program is also in need of some help in encouraging alternate transportation routes and options that focuses away from automobiles but towards bikes, footpaths and the like.

There is an entire list of the different boards as well as an application to be part of them on the city of Platteville website, platteville.org, on the Boards and Commissions link. Even if there are no vacancies for a board or commis­sion you are interested in, it doesn’t mean the city isn’t taking applications.

How is this going to benefit an aspiring col­lege student? Well, there is huge potential for résumé building, volunteer hours with a mu­nicipality, internships and the application of things learned in class. Working with the city of Platteville holds many opportunities for stu­dents studying a wide range of topics or for anyone with specific interests.

Change is wanted and needed. The city needs student voices contributing to decisions. Students should seriously consider getting in­volved with Platteville city.

With a little help from some manpower and sunshine, by the time school is out, this part of the state will have fields peppered with green. This includes Pioneer Farm’s fields. For the facility to accommodate the dairy, beef and swine herds, the animals need to eat. But for them to eat, crops need to be planted, fertilized and harvested with brand new top-of-the-line Case International Har­vester equipment.

The use of brand new machin­ery on the Farm didn’t happen by a stroke of luck or by means of copious amounts of funding to purchase the equipment, but by way of a state-regulated lease program. Terms for the program were signed in November 2009, and University of Wisconsin-Platteville became the first uni­versity to start this program, which is specifically between Ritchie Implement Inc., Case IH and UW-Platteville. All of the new equipment is brought to the Farm from Ritchie Implement Inc., out of Cobb.

It was while noticing the small amount of Case IH equip­ment in the UW System fleets that Case IH President Randy Baker got the idea to help out the budget-stricken system by supplying new equipment for the Farm. With the collaboration of UW-Platteville, Ritchie Im­plement Inc., and Pattie Lardie, Case IH manager of government sales, the agreement was made.

Now, and for the years to fol­low, the Farm is supplemented with new equipment before it is necessary for use. For example, a new corn planter was just de­livered. This gives Justin Daugh­erty, beef herd enterprise man­ager, and Pioneer Farm workers time to make sure equipment is prepped and ready for the upcom­ing planting and harvest seasons.

During the course of the year, when any particular piece of ma­chinery is being used on the Farm, the hours of use are recorded.

“The program allows Ritchie Implement and Case IH to pro­vide machinery to the UW-Platte­ville Pioneer Farm as long as the equipment is salable in Ritchie

Implement’s marketplace,” said Kevin Depies, salesman for Ritchie Implement, Inc. “Once the university is done with the equipment, it can be marketed locally with a discount for de­preciation. This is a win-win for the university, the community, Ritchie Implement and Case IH.”

There are three skid steers, 10 tractors that range from 31 to 350 horsepower, and harvest, tillage, and planting equipment on the Pioneer Farm. Anything that can be used in Southwest Wiscon­sin can be leased through to the university, but not everything the Farm uses is supplied by Ritchie Implement and Case IH.

There are benefits to using top-of-the-line machinery, other than it making the staff’s lives easier. Quality crops can be planted, grown and harvested, creating high yields of feed for the livestock on the farm, which ultimately results in high-quality dairy, beef and pork products.

Another benefit that the agree­ment provides is exposure and learning experiences for the stu­dents that work on the Pioneer Farm.

“It gives the students the op­portunity to run top-of-the-line equipment and learn the new­est technologies within the ma­chines,” said Laurel Ballweg, se­nior animal science major. “This prepares the students for their fu­ture after college and allows them to be more well-rounded and ex­perienced individuals.”

Jobs such as hauling bales, planting corn and hauling feed are all things that students have the chance to experience. Daugh­erty said that some students have experience working with farm equipment, but some have little to no training. Working on the Farm is a hands-on way for agriculture students to create a connection to what farmers do on a daily basis, especially if they are not going to be farming after college.

“They get to be proactive and use technologically advanced equipment that wouldn’t neces­sarily be on their home farms,” Daugherty said.

All students who are hired are required to take an in-house safety training course along with a Case IH-sponsored farm safety class for all workers.

“I thought the safety training was necessary,” said Ryan Ripp, senior animal science major. “I generally can jump in a tractor and go, but this is a good remind­er of how to be safe and to teach others to be safe on the Farm.”

The partnership between UW-Platteville, Case IH and Ritchie Implement is a relationship that gives students, staff and commu­nity members the opportunity to learn about the emerging agricul­tural technologies both on and off the field.

The spring semester is approaching rapidly, and there are many students, such as myself, that will graduate May 12 and face an impor­tant decision: graduate school or employment?

I completely support further education; however, I offer the following as reasons to pursue a career instead of a graduate degree. My argument is brought to you by peterson.com, which highlights numerous reasons op­posing graduate school.

First, graduate school is highly competitive. Graduate programs typically have less posi­tions than undergraduate programs. There’s competition for enrollment, research opportu­nities, grant money, and frequently, departmen­tal politics, according to peterson.com. I think competition is constructive for society. As col­lege students, we are competing for a chance of better employment in classrooms. You write a paper and you receive a point-value grade. You present a project and you are evaluated with a quantity based on your performance.

Raise the stakes, reduce opportunities for students to continue education through more strict pre-requisites, jack up tuition prices and you have a graduate program. Not to say that there’s anything wrong with demanding more from a higher quality education, which could lead to a better career, but is it worth it?

In addition to tougher competition, there are also the issues of higher costs and large sums of debt after graduating.

Graduate schools can be very expensive. If you do not plan to work during the semester, or will not receive an assistant job and waived tuition fees, education costs will soar, accord­ing to peterson.com. Furthermore, the website warns that debt incurred through graduate pro­grams might force you to accept a job based on availability after graduation, due to financial needs.

If the arguments above are not enough, there remains the fear of being overly edu­cated for the position. During tough economic times, if your seeking employment, having an advanced degree can be detrimental. You may be told, ‘sorry, you’re overqualified,’ according to peterson.com.

I hope that I haven’t squashed the dreams of some students who plan to attend graduate school, and I admire your efforts, but I fear that it will be quite difficult to succeed with the cur­rent condition of the job market and economy.

Gerrad Frei: Graduate School

Assistant Chancellor for Administrative Services Rob Cramer told me Tuesday one can never have too much education. I am inclined to agree with him, and I would believe that most of the students attending this university do as well. After all, are we not here to better our minds, to receive the tools that will help us perform in our careers?

This is why attending a graduate school af­ter completing an undergraduate degree is ben­eficial.

Grad school allows for specialized train­ing in a chosen field of study that cannot be achieved while pursuing a bachelor’s degree. Not only do grad students receive valuable work skills and advice, but they come to understand subtleties and nu­ances of their career fields in ways non-grad students do not.

Attending a gradu­ate school increases potential earning power. Those with MBAs in business-re­lated fields can earn nearly double the salary of their undergraduate level counterparts, accord­ing to gradschools.com. Those with an MBA also tend to receive jobs that have signing bo­nuses, while 52 percent are offered or have ac­cepted a job opportunity before graduating.

Grad school also brings with it the one great intangible that people often forget: the esteem. It should not be lost on those thinking of con­tinuing their education after receiving a bach­elor’s that the prestige that comes with having an MBA is not lost on employers. It appears ambitious, self-motivated and, most important­ly, it makes you look like a hard worker.

When considering where to go after your four years here, make sure to give graduate school serious consideration. It can provide crucial work skills, a greater pay rate and pres­tige. And students can find grad schools that will not only pay the tuition, but also give the student a stipend to help with food and hous­ing.

In the end, grad school makes you a must-have asset to a variety of companies or pro­grams, which will allow you the opportunity.

More of these little additions and eye-pleasers would not be available to University of Wis­consin-Platteville students and faculty without education and training in the science of orna­mental horticulture.

Horticulture, specifically, is the preparation of land in order to produce a garden, orchard or nursery in which to grow flowers, fruits, vegetables or decorative plants. The UW-Platteville web­site explains the study of orna­mental horticulture as “a branch of the broad field of horticulture that focuses on the art and sci­ence of floriculture (greenhouse management and interior design), landscape design and manage­ment, nursery management, turf management and the develop­ment of recreational areas for public and private use.”

The UW-Platteville graduat­ing class of 2001 presented the first two graduates of the orna­mental horticulture program from the School of Agriculture. Today, there are about 35 students en­rolled in this area of study. The program has a 95 percent em­ployment rate after graduation for UW-Platteville ornamental horticulture graduates, according to Mike Compton, director of the School of Agriculture.

“We have students go into landscaping, hardscaping, green­house management and turf man­agement,” Compton said. “Jobs are at golf courses, greenhouses, private homes and businesses to maintain landscapes, grow plants and manage turf.”

Senior ornamental horticul­ture student Danielle Ballweg has plans to either manage an estate or run her own business selling vegetables.

“I like how the classes are hands on because they are prepar­ing me for when I start working,” Ballweg said.

Ballweg was recently offered a prestigious international fel­lowship exchange to spend 10 months in Great Britain with the Royal Horticulture Society to work and study at gardens across the country. Only one American student is chosen for this oppor­tunity every year, and Ballweg is the first to apply and be accepted from UW-Platteville.

Senior agricultural business major and small business owner David Parr is more focused on the marketing aspect.

“I find that the classes are helpful in how I make manage­ment decisions when running my produce business,” Parr said. He began Parrfection Fruit in high school and is currently preparing to expand once he graduates.

“Our students are ready to hire,” said Assistant Professor Donita Bryan. “Employers ask us for names of graduates with this degree.”

UW-Platteville is the only school in the state that offers a specialized ornamentals program. UW-Madison and UW-River Falls both offer broad-spectrum horticulture programs that in­clude floriculture, fruits and veg­etables and other crop sciences.

UW-Platteville’s program emphasizes the need for a large amount of practice in problem solving and critical thinking on the job. The classes that are of­fered are hands on. Ornamental horticulture students maintain the Dottie Johns Pioneer Gardens, building the patio and hardscapes by the football field, propagation of plants and they work exten­sively in the greenhouses.

“We require students to work with non-profit clients on design­ing a landscape in class,” Bryan said. “Currently, the program is in collaboration with Moyer’s Inc. using a $60,000 donation in hardscape material to work on a three to four year project to create a children’s garden.”

The Pioneer Greenhouse is comprised of five greenhouses and two quonsets, which are ar­eas that hold the perennials and woody ornamental plants that are not planted. Each house has dif­ferent lighting and temperature parameters to accommodate for the more than 300 different spe­cies of plants that are grown.

Flowers, crops, herbs and al­most any other exotic plant adorn the multiple tables and walls of each greenhouse. Students grow tomatoes year round, which MPSC and Glenview offer in their salad bars.

“We are currently growing and harvesting $300-$500 per month in herbs,” lecturer Dawn Lee said. “We sell rosemary, basil and chives at market price and they are all purchased by campus din­ing services.”

The four student employees at the greenhouse are either en­rolled in the horticulture or crop and soils program. Because there is constant turnover in what is planted and composted, student-workers keep busy repotting, propagating (creating new plants with seeds, cuttings or bulbs), watering and harvesting. Stu­dents that learn and work in the greenhouses also work directly with the cooks in dining services so they see what happens to the plants after they are harvested.

All of the different aspects to the ornamental horticulture program are diverse and allow students to get hands on experi­ence necessary to obtain future jobs. Students who study orna­mental horticulture make it pos­sible to have the kind of campus UW-Platteville students and staff use everyday, but they are also responsible for places like Cen­tral Park and the estate at Buck­ingham Palace. Crabapple trees don’t just grow and sidewalks don’t design themselves; a person with a degree in ornamental hor­ticulture is behind it.

Athletics are a major part of the university. Whether it be raising money from sales or getting the students active, athletics have helped the Universtiy of Wisconsin-Platteville.

Division I and II universities have scholarship programs that athletes can earn through their performance. Due to the size and amount of money available in D-III universities, scholarships are not given out.

Because athletics bring so much money and publicity to the university, athletes should be rewarded for all their hard work and dedication.

Student athletes also do a lot of work, both on and off campus for the community. Most UW-Platteville teams run events called Kids Night Out. It is put on almost every Friday night by different teams. This is a program where parents can drop off their children for a small fee. The children can swim, watch a movie, get their face painted or play games with the athletes. It is a great fundraiser that helps keep things like uniforms and facilities running. These funds can even be utilized with a scholarship fund for the athletes.

Athletes also do many things for the community at large. The cross country team in particular rakes leaves for the elderly in the fall. They also clean many of the roads surrounding campus to help the university stay clean.

All of these things show the levels of dedication and commitment the athletes have to UW-Platteville. The scholarship policy should be changed to reward the hard work and athleticism of student athletes.

I have talked to many student athletes that agree. “It would have been nice to attend a university that gave out scholarships, but UW-Platteville is where I chose to be, and I represent my school the best I can through my athletics,” said Megan Knutson, a cross country and track runner. “A job during the season conflicts with practice so scholarships would really help.”