Things that Need to Happen

Many students are heard to say every now and then, “what other thing can I do or should I be doing outside of my school work?” This is a valid and honorable question.  The following three things will help give you an idea of what many of the professors in the department have suggested students should be doing and be a viable part of.

1. Activities outside of class

Only a part of students learning may come from formal classroom instruction, but the rest of it comes from life experiences, associations with other students, mentored research, and hard work.  Along with seasonal employment, extracurricular activities are a good method to diversify and broaden your education.  Most PWS faculty members strongly encourage students to augment their formal classroom education with additional activities that actually bring the classroom to life.

The following list was collected from PWS faculty members and represents potentially broadening experiences that students may enjoy before they graduate with a bachelors.

• Clubs (Environmental Science, Ecoresponse, Genetics and Biotechnology, Landscape, Pre-med, Wildlife and Range, etc.)
• Professional organizations  and Meetings (American Society of Plant Pathologists, Green Industry Conference, Society for Range Management, Student Career Days, The Wildlife Society, etc.)
• Service Activities outside of major (Hospitals, Red Cross, In the community, On campus)
• Volunteering within major (Job shadowing, work for free)
• Internships
• Mentorships
• Field Trips
• Student Competition Teams (Plant ID Team, Undergraduate Range Management Examination)
• International experience
• Get a hobby
• Exercise
• Go to Seminars and Symposiums (ask questions)
• Read and Write
• Stay up on Current Events
• Read the Literature
• Get to know the world
• Take aptitude tests
• Try out different classes
• Make friends with peers in major (networking)
• Become a leader

  These are not in order of importance and not all of them can be done at once, but they are all recommended.  Some will help you figure out if one of these majors is really for you; others will help you learn skills that are needed to succeed; and the rest will help you get the diversity that you probably should have and that many employers and schools are looking for in employees and students.

2. Seasonal Employment

  Seasonal employment, just like extracurricular activities, it a major contributor to gaining experience.  It is different in that you are getting paid to apply your skills that you have learned while in school and in other activities.  This is more important in some majors over others because of the differences in the definition between an internship and a seasonal job.  In reality, in one, the student is paid and the in the other the student receives credit.  Other than that, both students are receiving experience for their time.

3. Contacts

  Making contacts or networking during your university experience will help you further your post graduate plans.  There are two different ways to network and both depend on what you plan on doing after you graduate.  The first one is how you network to find a job, and the second is how you network to gain entrance into a program of higher education.

  a. For jobs- To network here effectively, interning with or working for companies or an agency during the school year or over the summer is preferable.  These experiences give you an opportunity to meet others in the company that can hire you full time and lets you show off your skills.  You can also volunteer with them or present research at professional societies where these companies may be present.  The ultimate goal here is to get a job soon after you graduate.

  b. For higher education- Making contacts here can be totally different.  The goal here is to make connections that can get you into your school of choice and for some majors, a research project to work on.  The best people to “get friendly with” would be professors in our department.  They have their own research projects that you may be able to jump in on or they may know other professionals or professors that you could make contact with and get to know better.  Besides that, if you get to know each other well enough, they could write letters of recommendation to professors or schools to which you are applying.

  Whatever your purpose for networking, it can help you succeed in what you want to do.  “Remember, networking is simply forming new friendships with your career/profession as the initial basis of the relationship. It is not begging people for a job.  Thus, the sooner you start this process, the easier it will be,” (The Daily Universe).