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Show THE CAMPUS THE UNIVERSITY JOURNAL• S0UTH8RN UTAH UNIVERSITY• MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1994 , Grounds crew keeps campus 'top notch' By CHRIS TAYLOR JOURNAL STAFF WRITER Chester, reportedly fack Bishop's dog, is caught in a rare moment of inactivity. The athletic director's pet is k nown to hundreds in Cedar City as he roams the streets at will. Ambassadors serve varied functions By HARMONY CURTIS JOURNAL STAFF WRITER Nicely clad in forest green shirts and sporting classy name tags, the Presidential Ambassadors are working hard through the School Relations Office to raise SUU's level of prestige and increase university enrollment. T he group hopes to achieve this by conducting campus tours, hosting weekend recruitment activities, ushering at programs and banquets and serving wherever the need lies. This diverse group of 20 highly motivated and involved volunteers is selected in the spring based on applications and interviews. "Each year the number of applicants increases," according to Presidential Ambassador President, Allison Dover. "We try our best to get the cream of the crop." The Presidential Ambassadors are primarily concerned with recruiting high school seniors and transfer students. Last year the Ambassadors reached over 1,000 people through campus tours alone. "When people come to visit the campus a Presidential Ambassador is often the first person they meet. We work hard to make that first impression a good one," Dover, explained. "lf their first experience is a positive one they're m ore likely to take a second look." In addition to conducting campus tours, the Presidential Ambassadors host several special weekends throughout winter and spring quarters as.part of their recruitment efforts. These include T hunderbird Weekend, for high school seniors; Junior College Weekend, for prospective transfer students; Honors Weekend, for high school juniors; and Presidential Weekend, for a select group of high school seniors. These events are a time for prospective students to get a taste of what SUU life is really like. An effort is made to conduct the weekends during times when special events are being held on campus in order to introduce weekend participants to the high caliber of activities SUU has to offer. "We try to make the Weekend participants feel comfortable and welcome," said Presidential Ambassador Amy Theriot. "We try to take care of all their needs and help them in any way we can." Dover explained that one of the greatest rewards for Presidential Ambassadors is seeing many of the people they introduce to the campus come to school here the next year. "Presidential Ambassadors try to relate to prospective students and make them feel comfortable and secure by sharing many of their own experiences," said Dover. Science workshop slated for teachers A two-day workshop to assist elementary and secondary school teachers in presenting science subjects will be held Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 at SUU. The "SUU/NASA Teacher Workshop" will feature instructors from NASA headquarters, the Hansen Planetarium in Salt Lake City, the Davis County School District, Utah State University, the N ASA Ames Research Center, SUU, and Weber State University. Astronaut Rich C lifford will be among the workshop presenters. "Our goal is to offer an interface and som e help from people directly involved in science to those people who teach in the schools, " Don Blanchard, workshop director and SUU professor of electronics, said. "We are getting a lot of help from Weber State University personnel who have offered similar workshops for the last four fears." Registration forms for the workshop are available by contacting Blanchard (586-7986) or the Utah Center for Rural Life (586-54 18). Advance registration is required to participate in the workshop sessions which will be held in the R. Haze Hunter Conference Center. State in-service credit is available to anyone attending a minimum of 10 hours of workshop sessions. Cost of the workshop is $15, with a possible additional $3-5 materials charge for those attending Saturday sessions. "We feel that helping in science education can be of real value to teachers and subsequently to students," Blanchard said. "Several of the participants are coming at their own expense because of the importance they see in science training. As a follow-up to the workshop, we are planning a more in-depth two-week workshop next summer." It's 8 a.m., and students are beginning to pile into classrooms, wrapped from head to toe in the parkas, gloves and warm weather gear of the winter season. However, very few of these "icicle students" realize the amazing feat of nature that accompanied the heavy snowfall of the previous night. Somehow, the snow had managed to fall everywhere, except the sidewalks and parking lots. How was this possible? What change in the weather patterns of southern Utah had occurred during the night? The answer is . .. a small group of SUU employees, whose responsibil ity it is to remove the snow, clean up garbage, take care of the trees, mow the law ns and keep the SUU campus shining throughout the year. This group of individuals is known as the SUU grounds crew. While heavy, or even light, snowfall has not yet hit Cedar City, the grounds crew of SUU has been busily cutting, trimming, mowing and dumping throughout the summer. Chris Gale, head of the grounds department, said his employees "take pride in what they do." Gale has eight full-time employees, plus fi ve students who work part-time during the winter months and full-time during the summer. "They treat it like their own yard," said Gale. During the winter m onths, the grounds crew arrives as earl y as 3:30 a.m. to clear the snow so they can be done before students start arriving. "We try to be done by 7 a.m., but if it snows during the day, we'll get that done, too" said Gale. It is also the During the winter responsibility of the grounds months, the crew to keep the football grounds crew field, soccer fields, baseball arrives as early as diamonds and 3:30 a.m. to clear the rest of the athletic the snow so they playing areas can be done in good condition. "We have to keep it before students all looking top- start arriving. notch," said Gale. The chore of keeping the entire campus may seem to be a very large responsibility. Gale says that students can help out simply by dropping their garbage in the proper receptacle as opposed to dropping it on the ground. " We have garbage cans everywhere," said Gale. Gale also said students should stay off the lawns as much as possible, especially on bicycles. " It cuts trails in to the lawn, and just doesn't look good," said Gale. "There are plenty of sidewalks, but some students will cut across just to save a few steps." |