Get Involved!
Lots of learning - and fun - happens outside of the classroom! Join one or more of our clubs and judging teams and enhance your leadership skills. Attend a professional conference, hear from experts in the field and start building your professional network. Many of these experiences are no/low cost to you so take advantage of as many as you can!
The Crops and Soils Club organizes industry visits and guest speakers and arranges a variety of activities for fun, like ice skating, laser tag and movie nights. Club members take part in community service by participating in the Wisconsin Adopt-A-Highway program and growing pumpkins for YMCA Camp St. Croix's youth.
Each year, many club members participate in the Students of Agronomy, Soils and Environmental Science (SASES) national meeting. The SASES program features educational sessions, contests, networking, social activities, an awards banquet and tours. UWRF students often present the results of a research project at one of the SASES sessions and have even been elected as a national officer for the organization.
One of the newest clubs at UWRF, the Environmental Sustainability Club brings together students from environmentally-focused programs across the campus. The club hosts guest speakers, participates in volunteer activities such as the Kinni Clean-up and community events like Earth Fest and organizes field trips to learn more about environmental issues and solutions.
Have a neat rock you would like to know more about? Every year the Geological Society hosts an open lab where you can bring in your unique specimens for identification, crack your own geode, sieve for fossils and minerals and experience a fluorescent mineral show. In addition to guest speakers on topics ranging from glaciers to PFAS, this group gets out and about. Recent trips have included area cave exploration, kayaking and touring a proposed metals mine site. Club members are always excited to attend the Geological Society of America (GSA) annual meeting and take time to experience the unique geology of the GSA host locations.
The Horticulture Society is well-known across campus for their plant sales. Club members hold general sales so you can brighten your living space with plants, a spring bedding plant sale when we’re all eager to get out in the garden and holiday sales featuring poinsettias and roses. They also sponsor field trips, guest speakers and special workshops on floral and wreath design.
As with many of our clubs, the Horticulture Society also provides a service to the River Falls community. In recent years, the club has helped the River Falls Grow to Share program, a nonprofit program dedicated to helping everyone have access to fresh, locally grown food. Club members have helped with activities at their fall harvest event and helped prepare the garden plots for winter.
The Resource Management Club helps students get hands-on experience in all aspects of resource management. The club often assists campus and other local nonprofit groups with a range of projects – prescribed burns, habitat restoration, trail maintenance and more. They also spend time simply enjoying the outdoors through activities like camping trips and snow shoeing. Students from any major who enjoy outdoor activities are welcome to join!
The Plant and Earth Science Department sponsors three intercollegiate judging teams where students compete against their peers from other institutions. We compete in the National Forage Bowl competition that takes place in conjunction with the American Forage and Grassland Council Annual Conference each January. Additionally, each spring the the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) holds a range of competitions and UWRF typically competes in both the Crops and Soils Judging Contests. UWRF teams have placed well in all three of these events in recent years, besting teams from much larger Division 1 schools.
