Inside Stout
Inside Stout
Inside Stout Ep. 14 - Answering Your FAQs: Housing, Dining, Health, Parking
With Family Weekend approaching, we wanted to take the opportunity to answer some of the most frequently asked questions from Stout parents and supporters. Rachel and Emily are joined by an assortment of guests who will answer your questions on student health, dining, housing, and parking on campus. Don't forget to check out all the amazing Family Weekend events and other resources shared by this week's guests!
UW-Stout Family Weekend Events and More
Guests:
Sandi Scott, Dean of Students
Jason Horzewski, Associate Director of University Dining
Klare Armstrong, Communications and Contracts Coordinator, University Housing
Jason Spetz, Chief of Police, Director of Parking Services
Guest Resources:
- Student Health Services (Prevea)
- Counseling Center
- SilverCloud App (page link requires Stout credentials)
- University Dining
- University Housing
- Parking Services
Follow us on social media:
www.instagram.com/uwstoutpics/
www.linkedin.com/school/university-of-wisconsin-stout
Visit our website: https://www.uwstout.edu/
Hello, everyone. Welcome to inside stout, a UW stout podcast that focuses on the stories of students, faculty, staff, and the entire campus community. I'm Rachel Rimson
Speaker 2:And I'm Emily Laird
Speaker 1:With family weekend, right around the corner. We thought an episode had focused on the amazing parents and supporters that make up the extended stout community was fitting
Speaker 2:Family weekend. This year is Friday, April 8th through Sunday, April 10th from trying the climbing wall laughing along with featured comedians or watching students strut their stuff in the incredible fashion without fabric show, family weekend definitely offers something for everyone. We'll link to the family weekend website in the show notes, and certainly encourage you to take a look at everything available.
Speaker 1:We know that when your students go off to stout, there are a lot of questions, questions that your students may not always have the answers to. And so what do they do? They call you? You may not always know the answers. So we decided to bring on the subject matter experts to answer those questions for both you and your student. Let's get to it. We have Sandy Scott here in the studio today. Why don't you introduce yourself? Sure.
Speaker 3:Uh, my name is Sandy Scott and I have the privilege of serving as the Dean of students who at UW stout.
Speaker 1:Well, thanks for being on today and taking time out of your day, we're gonna be talking about on this whole episode, different areas around campus that supporters and parents, guardians of our students have been asking about. And we have you here today to talk about health on campus health, how we provide healthcare, but also how we provide services that promote better healthcare, whether it's mental and physical. So do you have an overview of what we offer and what's available?
Speaker 3:Yep, absolutely. Um, so I think when we think about health, we are talking about health for mind, body spirit, right? It's everything together is what comprises is. Um, all of us, whether it's a student or faculty or staff member, all of us are sent that sense of wellbeing. Yeah. And there's, um, I think so much that stout has to offer to students so that they can feel that total sense of wellness. Yeah. Um, in the most traditional sense, of course we have student health services on campus, which are now operated by Prevea health and, um, students have access to what most families would probably consider, um, to be like an, um, urgent care along with a family practice sort of
Speaker 1:Environment.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Um, with, and I should qualify that urgent care as a limited sense of urgent care, meaning you don't necessarily, we strongly want you to have an appointment, but if there were a need that you immediately needed to see someone and it's not an emergency or a trip to a hospital student health is of course a great option for that. So, um, for those physical health needs, although Prevea health also does have a psychiatrist, right. Um, that is part of their service offerings. Then of course we have a counseling center, right. That is available to students as well. That provides what most people would think of as traditional, um, in-person or telehealth counseling options. Students have a choice, but there is, um, there are other things, right. Um, the opportunities that are afforded through intermurals and campus recreation are part of, uh, a whole approach to wellness. Yeah. Um, the outdoor facilities that we have, whether it's walking the track or, um, participating in the ropes course, or just enjoying some of the beautiful surrounding when area, right. Being outdoors, all contributes beautiful. That sense of, of health and wellness. Um, there are things like, um, silver cloud, which is the app, uh, that, um, any student can access any time. A lot of times students don't really need counseling. They don't need a, a therapist, but they need just resources at their fingertips. Um, perhaps ongoing, like maybe ongoing meditations or something that they may wanna engage in. Yeah. Um, or it's maybe a just in time resource about, I'm feeling a little under the weather, I'm feeling the blues is, is there something I can do to help get me out of that? And they can download that app at any time to have that available.
Speaker 2:That's so great. Cuz we definitely hear are a lot lately of students with kind of that feeling of burnout, especially this time of year. And it's so great that we have these resources to kind of pull them back in and support them aside from just the academic side of support. Right. So that's excellent to hear.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And, and you know, so much of it too is I think one of the biggest resources we forget to mention to students is each other, right? Oh yeah. That's the message of when you need to talk with someone, sometimes a peer is the best person to do that with, and it's become a little bit easier now right now that we don't have the same COVID restrictions we've had to live with in the past. And so our, our normal coping mechanisms when we are like our health, uh, maybe at risk is to reach out to someone in community that you can be with. And so even things like going to events, cuz there are so many events on this campus. Yeah. Um, that just participating in an event with other students, even if you go to that event alone, you're gonna be there with other people. Yeah. Sometimes that of itself can be enough to help lift us up and get us out of whatever that funk is that we may be experiencing.
Speaker 2:Definitely. And I, I wouldn't have even thought about that is all the great events that we have on this campus. We were just talking about, we have family weekend coming up. So we were just talking about, we have this jam packed weekend full of events that not only students, but their families in support systems can also come and experience as well. So great. That's another really good example of ways to get involved and get out there and support your mental health
Speaker 1:For potentially, for students to think of where to go. Especially if they're a new student, a first year student, they've never been away from their family or if parents get those phone calls, like we said earlier, how do you think parents should direct them? How can they support them? What would you say to that?
Speaker 3:Yeah. And it's, it's a common thing, right? It's, there's a normal part of transition that is, um, for many students, not all where you feel that sense of loneliness, that means you left some place that you were cared for and that's a good thing. Right, right. You're cared for there. Now you also have this new environment where people really do care for you. And sometimes it's as simple as first of all, I think if a student that support person or that family member that they might be struggling to normalize that, you know, struggling, it is normal to struggle in a transition. Yep. And it's also that transition can happen for students at any time. So it doesn't have to happen in the first six weeks of either the fall or spring semester. It can happen at different times. Um, and so when that struggle is there to remind students that there are resources available to them is critical. Hence the value in doing a podcast like this, right. So family members know what those, um, resources are, but then to let the student know and to inform the student. And sometimes I do think the members and support persons have to tell the student how they do that. You know, if they don't know. Yeah. But no one is gonna know, unless you tell them, you might need a referral or you might need help. But if you do that, if you call that counseling center and make an appointment, or if you go tell your resident assistant that you are looking for a way to get involved on campus, how might they be able to help you? People will help. Yeah. You just have to make sure and encourage that student to let people know that they're looking for something that's the critical piece. And that's sometimes the real difference, right. Between that transition for our traditionally students from high school to college. Um, it's it's and COVID made it really challenging. So we're actually in a little bit better of an environment, but um, I think most of the time people assume most people are doing okay. Yeah. Yeah. And sometimes they're not right. And so we have to be taught to look for the signs to see if someone's not doing okay. And then we meaning all of us have to notice and comment to that student. Right. And to say, Hey, you're looking like you're not feeling so great. Is there somewhere I can refer you to, that might be helpful.
Speaker 1:Exactly. Well, I think that wraps it up. You shared some really helpful information and I think definitely everyone listening to this will be very appreciative and we will put links to silver cloud to the counseling center, to student health services in the show notes as well. We
Speaker 2:Absolutely will.
Speaker 3:Awesome. Great. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thanks Sandy.
Speaker 3:So
Speaker 2:Next up, we're gonna talk about everyone's favorite topic, my favorite topic food. So we have a guest in house. Who's gonna tell us all things dining on campus.
Speaker 4:Hi everybody. Uh, my name is Jason Eski. I'm the associate director for dining services here on campus. Um, just with my, a little bit about my background before we kinda get started talking about dining. Um, I have been on campus for 10 years, uh, as a full-time employee. I was actually just talking to somebody about that the other day. I was like, it's only been 10 years. I was like, wow, it's been 10 years. Wow. Um, working in a, a variety of different, um, uh, units across our dining on campus. Um, retail CA uh, retail, catering, cafeteria. Um, I've also a scout grad, so I was a stone alumni. Nice
Speaker 2:Football.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 4:Woo. Um, so I was a student employee here working for dining when I went to school and then now working back here full time. So
Speaker 1:That's my story too. Uh, for all of our listeners, I actually worked for Jason for under a year when I was a undergrad here in the commons. And I also worked a little bit of catering, a little bit of the MSC for a summer. Yep, yep. And he was a great supervisor.
Speaker 4:Well, thank you. Yeah. And I remember you from the summer too. And usually I always tell people that if I remember you, it's a 50, 50 chance if it's in a good way or a bad way, but uh, cause sometimes I see names and I'm like, oh, uh, but uh, no, Rachel, you did a great job for us, so yeah. Happy to, happy to be here today.
Speaker 2:Excellent. Well, thank you so much for joining us. We've had a lot of questions about dining at UW stout. So we're really excited to kind of jump into it. Tell us quickly a little bit about dining here at stout, cuz it is a little bit different than a lot of the other UW schools.
Speaker 4:Yep. Uh, it absolutely is. And so our dining services here on campus, we are self operated, uh, which be that were owned and operated by the university. We're not Contra contracted out by a third party vendor. Um, so we are one of only five UW system schools that are self operated. Um, it's ourselves UW, Platville UW Stevens point, uh, UW Madison, UW Milwaukee. So we're very proud of that fact that we are self operated. Um, one of the other things, you know, I'd like talk about with our dining services is our dining plans. I do wanna talk a little bit about our dining plans. Um, cause that is also something that, uh, differentiates us from other universities in the UW system. Um, so our dining plan is a dollar for dollar debit account, um, which is, is uncommon. Um, not only in the UW system, but another system, other schools across the country. Um, so we are a dollar for dollar debit account and that money does roll over from semester to semester and year to year. Um, which is again, uh, differentiates us from other universities. There is no penalty to add. You can add funds at any time. Um, you know, the way that way that we feel is that that money is yours. It stays with you, you use it how you want to use it. So for those student are living on campus. Um, we do have a specific plan for those students. There's two parts to that plan. There's a board fee and there's dining funds. So what our board fee is, is that pays for all of our overhead. In two of our cafeterias on campus, we do operate two cafeterias on campus, north point dining and commons cafeteria, uh, north points on north campus, commons cafeteria is on, uh, south campus, um, and more geared toward first year students. So the board fee that students pay covers all of the overhead in both of those operations. So that board fee pays for labor or pays for rent. Um, it pays for utilities. The board fee pays for everything. That's not food related. So the dining funds is the second part of that, uh, student account for those students that are living on campus. And that is the dining funds portion. So the way that that works is because students have already paid for overhead in both cafeteria. Every time they dine there, they get a discounted meal rate. Um, currently our meal rates are a dollar 50 for breakfast, two 50 for lunch and two 70 for dinner. Uh, what that meal rate gets you is you get a choice of one entree and then all you care to eat sides. Um, at any one meal period we will have between five to six specialty bars open. Um, each of those specialty bars could have upwards of five, six different entrees. Most will only have one. Um, typically there's about 10 different entrees available for students to choose from at, uh, any one meal period. We do also have salad bars in both of our locations. So there's, you know, 50 to a hundred items on our salad bar. Um, and that includes fresh vegetables, fresh fruits.
Speaker 1:I love the salad bar
Speaker 2:I do too. I have to tell you a big fan, big the salad bar.
Speaker 4:And there's a lot of people that we know that a lot of faculty that I know that'll come eat in the cafeterias just for the salad bar. Yeah. Um, you know, even eating at cash price for 7 75 for a salad bar is, is a very good deal. Um, with the, just the size and the amount of items that we have out there. Yeah. Um, and then you get your beverages, you get your desserts, uh, the desserts, it will be what gets you into trouble because they are so delicious too. So, um, so yeah, so that's kind of how the true, that's kind of how
Speaker 1:The mint brownies,
Speaker 4:The mint brownies, the mint
Speaker 2:Brownies. I just love this soft survey ice cream machine. Like how often in life do you get a soft serve ice cream machine and it's just there for you to take like
Speaker 1:Exactly all you can eat. Yeah.
Speaker 4:I, I, I may date myself, but there's not a lot of, uh, shakey buffet anymore is that's where I used to or shakey or Ponderosa. So that was back in back in the day, but yes, they used to always have the soft serve machines here, but yeah, not, not often do you see soft serve machines, but we do have'em um, you know, up and running there in the cafeteria. So, um, the other nice thing I wanna get back to talking about the of dining plans a little bit. So, um, we've got the, the students that are living on campus. So they do have that. They pay the board feed and they have those dining funds. The other thing that differentiates us from other universities is the fact that students can use their dining funds in our retail operations as well. Um, so a lot of times when students, you know, if they're on a meal plan, they would be stuck to eating at, at one location. Sure. Um, in our operations, you know, we feel that it's the student's choice to eat where they want to eat. Yeah. You know, they're gonna get the best value eating in the cafeterias. Um, and they should eat in the cafeterias for a majority of their meals. Um, but should a student want to go to, let's say like the MSC, which is our retail location on campus, they can go there, use their dining funds. Um, they can get a cheeseburger, they can get French fries, um, or they can get whatever the special of the day is. So in our retail areas, we do have two spaces in the fireside cafe and the blue do market. Those are both located in the Memorial student center. Um, those are more Oli carte type options for students. So we have a Firestone pizza downstairs, our brew devil's coffee shop. We have buns and bowls, which is like a subway type concept. So build your own sandwiches. There are other options that students can use their dining funds for and not just have to use it in the cafeterias, which is, which is great for our students. So, um, they really, they, they really enjoy that. And it, it gives a lot of flexibility to our students with the plans. Um, and it, it allows them to, to make the choices to where to spend their, their dollars for dining.
Speaker 2:Sure. And what I had heard you say a lot earlier when you were talking about the cafeterias is really just the diverse variety that you offer in those meal periods. Right. Um, one thing of the theme of this episode, we've really been talking about families and the calls that parents get that say, I don't have a lot of options in the dining halls and that's not always true. Right. I think sometimes that our students, they aren't as creative as they could be in the dining area. They have to remember that, like you said, there's over a hundred items on the salad bar alone and there's chicken, grilled chicken breast, and they can make really elaborate salads and things like that. So talk a little bit about advice you might give, if your student called you and said, there's not a lot of variety in the cafeteria, what would you say?
Speaker 4:Yeah. And, and, you know, you bring up some great points there, there, um, uh, Emily talking about, you know, the, uh, the different variety that we have at each meal period. And so, uh, we do have, um, we are trying to start, uh, to pilot a program this year called fresh inspirations. Um, it's something that, you know, we, uh,
Speaker 2:I like that interested
Speaker 4:And, you know, it's in the early stages right now, but it's something because, because of the amount of, um, times that we've had questions about, you know, choices and you know, what students are eating in the dining halls and, you know, this is something to give, to give students an, uh, ideas as to, Hey, you can make these entrees using everything from the, our salad bar, our self-serve areas. Um, so some of the things that we've been working on too, are different types of salads. So like a Southwest chicken salad, if you were to go to the grill, get a grilled chicken breast, use spinach and lettuce us, um, do tomatoes, do we have a, a Fiesta dip that you can put on top of that salad as well? Love the Fiesta dip. You can get TOA chips from our Southwest sizzle area, you know, crunches up on top of there. Um, you know what I mentioned before about all you care to eat sides, it's, that's in each of our location. Each of our stations toast chips are considered a side. Um, and then your chicken breasts would be that one entree for your, for that meal. Um, so just those types of things are, are, you know, what we like to get students thinking about, um, and how to be more creative in, in dining, in our spaces. Um, some of the, the actually we, we did, we are like, so we're kind of piloting this program right now. We've been working with some of our students on campus and they've given us some of the ideas as to like what they do when they come home upstairs and eat in the cafeteria. This is what I always did. Um, one of the things I know that I always did when I was a student, um, of tortillas out for self-service, we have cheese in the salad bar, go make a quick case Illa, cuz we have, you know, nice panini presses out front as well. Um, so just those types of things, things that change it up, um, you know, and, and give, give a little bit more of variety to the students, um, is great.
Speaker 2:Well, that's excellent. I think it's really wonderful to hear that you are piloting this program. That's gonna bring more options for them as far as using their own creativity and the ingredients that are already set up fresh for them every single day.
Speaker 4:Yep. And, and the other thing too, that I wanna say is, you know, we do always have some sort of comfort food, you know, on our, on our menu, whether it be that cheeseburger or something that, that students are comfortable with and sure. You know, I would encourage students to, to go outta their comfort zone a little bit when they're dining with us. I mean, we do have a lot of great, you know, like we have an ancient grain bowl. Um, we do have some more bowl concepts bowls are something that are very popular right now cuz they're very, they're very customizable. Yeah. Um, we find that's what students want, things that they can customize, um, and that they can make their own if you will. Um, so, you know, I, I would suggest as students to, to try different things and you know, there's a lot of things that I know, you know, coming from where I came from in south central Wisconsin, you know, I didn't really have a lot of, it was meat and potatoes, meat and potatoes. And so yeah. You know, branching out and trying new things and it was difficult for me as a student. Um, but I would certainly encourage that of students is to, is to try something different. Um, the other nice thing about our cafeterias is we always have displays for what's available when you walk into the cafeteria that day. Yeah. So just our different, our different service stations that we have that are available. Um, you know, students can see that and then they can make their choice. And like I said, I would, I would encourage students to choose, you know, something that they may not, may not get on a regular basis
Speaker 2:Just to kind of change, you know, outside your comfort zone. So as we kind of wrap this up, definitely as we kind of started the conversation Rachel, you had previously worked for dining. Oh yeah. And I'm sure dining is hiring. Yes. Do you wanna talk about
Speaker 4:That? So I would, my, uh, our director for dining would be, uh, uh, very upset with me if I did not mention employment here on this podcast. Um, we are hiring, uh, we are the largest employer on campus. We typically, um, do employ about 400 students each semester. Wow. So our positions start at$10 per hour. Uh, we have flexible schedulings we schedule around students class times. Um, we have a free meal and beverage program. It's a great way to meet new people. I know a lot of people that work for us, you know, enjoy that part of it. They get to meet new people, working with people, but also meeting people that come in, um, and customers and that. So, you know, we are looking for help. Uh, we're hiring, um, student staff. We're also hiring full-time staff. So any parents that are listening that are, you know, looking for employment too, we have full-time jobs available as well. And we'll be hiring that, uh, through the summer and then into the fall semester kind of, uh, bulking up our staff for the fall. So yes, we're always looking for student help. Uh, we are looking for full-time help as well. So
Speaker 2:Jason, we wanna thank you so much for your time. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Thank you guys for having me and any chance anytime I get a chance to, um, share my passion for dining and dining on campus with others, I, I really appreciate it and enjoy it. So, uh, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:Well, we're so excited to have our next guest joining us, obviously moving to college is a big step because there's housing involved. So we have a guest from housing today to answer some of the questions we've heard. Welcome.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here. Um, my name is Claire Armstrong. I, she, her pronouns and I serve as the communications and contracts coordinator for university housing. I'm a stout grad, um, stout proud. And so worked in housing as an undergrad, went away for a little while and now I'm back serving in this role.
Speaker 2:Excellent. Yeah. Well again, thank you for joining us. So RA,
Speaker 5:What do you got?
Speaker 1:Yes, definitely. The first thing that I wanted to ask you about Claire is hall renovations. Mm. When are these kids gonna get a flip? A flip? Yeah. Well, we're so excited. So this summer south hall is going offline. Um, we're clearing it out. We're really gutting the inside of south hall and it should be open in the fall of 2023. So we're so excited about that renovation one, because, well, I'm excited because we're changing where the entrance is. So the entrance is gonna be facing into the court yard, um, instead of on 13th street. Yeah. Perfect. Um, and then, I mean, we're making accessible spaces. We're making, um, bathrooms, single use bathrooms, updating those bathrooms, the rooms, really everything, um, to make, um, uh, diversity of spaces and variety of spaces, um, for our students, which is needed and wanted. Um, next would be from what I know, H K M C. And so that's kind of our next step. Um, and then from there our halls are renovated. We have like, you know, we have like our 10 plan of halls. Yeah. It takes a long time. It does, it takes a long time, like the process of architects and bidding and what, you know, what's our priority. Yeah. Um, and for us with south hall, like bathrooms are always our priority one because it, um, allows more space for students to feel safe and comfortable using the spaces based on gender identity, um, or their need as far as single use. Um, and so that is really like our biggest priority is like bathrooms and then everything kind of falls around that. Definitely. I'm excited for the renovations. I remember when they reopened price commons and north hall at the same time's I know. And you got to tour'em and north hall is beautiful. I'm so excited for more and same for, even for MCMA like Mont got redone when I was a student. Yeah. And that's also really nice. And even our residence halls on north campus, like Fleming Holi that opened up when I was a student and it's still in great condition. Has those lockable showers single use restrooms, same with Wiggen hall. Yeah. Um, and so, you know, it takes a while, but the work we put into it lasts years. Like we were joking that the next time, this hall like south hall will be renovated, will be dead. Like it, you know, it must last that long. It
Speaker 2:Lasts a long time,
Speaker 1:65 plus years. So the decisions we make, like the carpet pattern, we're like, oh, this has to withstand, like, it has to be cute, but it can't be too trendy because it has to be, you know,
Speaker 2:I would not be good at designing a dorm. I'm just gonna tell you right out, I would, it's a lot of options, very trendy. And then in like five years, everyone be like, who did this?
Speaker 1:I know. I know. Yeah. That's a very interesting thing to think about where the designers that we've paid to do that they have to think what will last that long students in 2050 want. I know that's crazy. I know. I know.
Speaker 2:When did, okay. When do students choose their dorm mates and stuff? Can we talk about that? Yeah,
Speaker 1:That's a great, that's a great question. So it really depends. So I'll give you kind of a timeline. Um, so for incoming students, um, incoming freshmen, so like the fall of 2022 right now, as soon as they're admitted, they receive their, um, housing information to their email. So their contract, they receive, um, their prepayment information and access to the housing gateway. And the housing gateway is really our portal that students throughout their time in housing utilize, okay. To sign their contract, to change their meal plan, um, to apply for jobs, to enter a maintenance request. Um, it's kind of a go-to for anything housing operationally, um, that they can utilize.
Speaker 2:So how do you choose your roommate?
Speaker 1:So then in March, so students apply, um, they sign their housing contract, they make their pre-payment then in March, they're given access to, to their room and dining preferences. Okay. And so those preferences are not only about their, you know, dining options and their room options, but it's also a little bit about you. So there's about a 20 question survey on there. Like I smoke. Yes. No indifferent. NA you can, you can put an NA for all of them, but um, to really put time into it is important. Cuz it's kind of questions that like it's awkward to ask someone that you've just met. Yeah. Or their red flag questions for you. So smoking, drinking, how the room should be utilized are guests allow your study patterns. Sure. Um, support of different communities. Do you exercise is really unorganized. Yeah. Like it gets, you know yeah. If you were to ask in person, here's for
Speaker 2:Sure. Probably you are like, I feel like whenever you have a roommate, they always are like, wow, you're really messy. Maybe
Speaker 1:That's I want a roommate who's clean,
Speaker 2:But you want one that's clean, but you also know they're gonna call you out at some point. Right. But then how does that, so all this their responses go in and then they're matched.
Speaker 1:No. So students, I know students select, oh,
Speaker 2:You
Speaker 1:Don't place. So students select in June, then incoming students in June select their hall, their floor, their room and who they live with. So you're able to see preferences of other students and other students are able to see your preferences. So that's one way that you can match with someone is when I, so high tech, when I went here, my, my first year here, I lived in H K M C. And I took the survey, but I just got placed with someone and I didn't get to choose where I lived or anywhere. It was so different back then. I mean, that was, yeah. This year would've been 10 years ago, literally
Speaker 2:Got an email and they were like, here's your roommate, but
Speaker 1:I's the account. I number not even an email, I feel, I
Speaker 2:Was lucky. Maybe's their student email. Yeah. But this was different college years ago, years. I'm gonna date myself
Speaker 1:Years. But honestly like if you, even from five years ago, like it's changed. So parents will come in and they're like, well, I went to college 800 years ago and which isn't true, but you know, along time ago or maybe they have, they've never gone to college. Right. Which is very common. And so how does this process work and who you're gonna live with brings on a lot of feelings. Mostly anxiety. Yes. Like mostly not positive ones. No. Um, and so we wanna make the process easy. We wanna give students independence in making very big decision for themselves of like where they live. Um, and then give them the resources to choose who they live with. Admissions also does a Facebook group. And so I talk with a lot of students that are like, I don't have Facebook and I'm like, okay, that's fine. Like you don't have to, but here's an option if you do, um, where they add everyone for the class of 2000 whatever. Yeah. I'm an admin on those. Oh my gosh. One. Yeah. So maybe you can speak more Rachel, but I think it's another way where students can, where I could be like, Hey, I'm Claire. I like the real Housewives of New York. I was a swimmer. Um, I go to bed early, like when the sun goes down. So do I. And so, but I get up early. So, um, that's what they do. And yeah, they post pictures of just like their life and you know, stuff. Here's my discord handle. It's amazing. Yeah. Let's chat me on snap right after lots of snap groups. Oh yeah. Wow. Like be cube of CKT snap groups. I mean, it's like, oh no, I know very specific, which is cool. Yep. That's what it's for. I, that's great for that's that's and that's important, um, to have that community cuz community starts in all different ways. Um, yeah. Which is good and bad, but um, so tho those are really the ways. And then we also have our first year registration and orientation, our Firo, um, weeks that are gonna be sooner in June this year. And I know that depends on each summer, but people can mingle and meet that way too. So I think there's lots of different ways. Or you can go the old fashion route and just see who picks you or you pick a random and if it doesn't work, I think that that's the other question I get is what if it's going poorly? Like how do I get my student out of this? Or how do they get out of this? Um, and we do have a little bit of time at the beginning of this every semester. So at the beginning of fall semester, at the beginning of spring semester where we have, um, a, what we called a room freeze, which is just kind of the dust settling of who's here, that said they were gonna be here. Who's not sorting all of that out. And then students are able to go back onto the housing gateway and see rooms available to them the same way they selected a room in the first place and changed their room. If they're unhappy, we're always willing to work with students. Um, if students come in, if they email us, if they work with their hall staff, um, we want where they live to be a safe and comfortable environment for them. Um, and so we're, like I said, we're always willing to work with them. So when it comes to, like you said, students being unhappy or just having something that they need to talk about yeah. With someone who works in housing. Yep. Like if they need to report something, like, let's say they find something wrong with their heater or their closet is broken or something. Yep. Anything like that, who do they go to to make sure that they're heard? Yeah. And then how will they know that it's been done or that it's not able to be done or whatever it might be. Yeah. That's kind of the process for that. Yeah. That's a great question. So, um, a couple different processes. So I think the things I hear, there's kind of two trains of communication, so there's the maintenance request, right? Yeah. Um, that students can, um, document themselves, submit a form, a maintenance request. It's on the housing gateway and that's really, if anything's like broken like a he or a closet door or a light went out, or I don't know, what have you. Um, and so that is submitted to facilities and maintenance and then that is directed out to whoever's in charge of that building or south campus versus north campus. Um, I would say if you haven't like heard anything from, um, or if the problem isn't fixed within 24 hours, you can always reach out to housing and we will forward that on to the perspective, um, or the person responsible for that I should say. Um, and so, um, housing@uwstout.edu, super easy to remember, shoot us an email you could, even for you get back a confirmation of your maintenance request. And so you could even forward that on. So it's all, you know, all documented there. Um, and just, you know, nothing's been, or like I submitted this yesterday following up on it. Um, and then I can, um, forward it either onto Justin who is in our department, but mostly works with facilities and our cleaning staff or forwarded on, um, to, you know, folks I haven't in with, um, yeah. And maintenance. But if it comes to cleanliness, like if you are noticing and, and we get, you know, um, that has come up in the parent patient emails all the time. And I think it's hard because you know, our bathrooms and our showers are cleaned on a rotating basis, um, every day, every week. Right. Um, and so our staff tries really hard to keep up with that. Um, but there's nuances and there, you know, there's situations that arise. Um, every hall has a residence life coordinator. So every student has an RA, a resident assistant who is then supervised by a residence life coordinator. And so you can either go to your RA, I mean, your RA lives on your floor. So they're probably seeing what you're seeing and ex experiencing what you're experiencing as well and have maybe already communicated it, um, up, but not communicating with their students that they communicated it. Right. Like it kind of depends on the person. Yeah. Um, but the residence life coordinator is a great person to one, have a relationship with and two as a resource. Um, and to, to voice those certains too. And then, um, you can always email the housing office as well. Um, and I can forward that on and you will get a response. So mostly, I shouldn't say mostly like every email I've received that I've forwarded on to Justin Foltz, um, our assistant director for facilities, he has then responded and C seed me so I can see the response. Right. Like he, in, in good time, um, giving explanation, usually in a like, like, Ugh, that is all like, that sucks. I'm sorry. You had to experience that. Or this is what's going on da, da, da, da. This is how we're gonna fix it. Kind of a thing. Um, uh, very hard worker who, um, will follow up with your students, so. Okay,
Speaker 2:Great. Awesome. Well, this been amazing to get all this additional information. It's certainly a good toolkit for parents because when we talked about things breaking or problems coming up, what do they do? Right. They call mom and dad, they call their guardian their supporter. Right. Um, and they kind of wanna know, so it's really good advice for them to help their student navigate through some of these issues that, you know, as an 18 year old, just out of the house, you may not be super comfortable right. Handling it, but certainly it's gonna help them. So we wanna thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thanks Claire.
Speaker 2:Lastly, on the show today, we're gonna talk about parking. So we brought in someone who's certainly an expert on that. Welcome.
Speaker 6:Hi, I'm uh, Jason SPTs, I'm the chief of police, uh, here at UW stout. And, uh, in that role, I'm also the director of parking services.
Speaker 2:Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for joining us. So let's jump right in with the question we're getting asked over and over again, is parking available on this campus?
Speaker 6:Yes, it is. It's available for anyone who wants to purchase a permit, but what we do tell students to, uh, do is, uh, um, buy the permit sooner rather than later. Um, because there have been times that we've sold out of different classes of permits and, uh, while we tend to normally get people parked somewhere, they just might not be parked to the most, uh, convenient spot for where they might be living or coming, uh, you know, to class or whatever their case may be. So, um, if you know, you're gonna need a permit, get one right away,
Speaker 2:And this is even, and for incoming freshman students,
Speaker 6:Even for incoming freshmen. Yeah. We have, um, um, numerous, uh, parking spots available for our, um, first year residence halls. Um, so that's a 24 hour a day permit that they can buy annual permit. And, um, as well as our north campus, uh, students are second year who are generally our second year students are, uh, returning students. So, um, they can buy, uh, their parking, uh, passes as well.
Speaker 1:Do you know the percentage of, let's just say students that live on campus full time, the percentage of those students that have a car And have a permit.
Speaker 6:Well, I could probably look that up and get you an exact percentage, but guesstimate. Um, I would say that I'm roughly 30 to 40% of people. Okay. Um, all right.
Speaker 1:That's a
Speaker 6:Few incoming freshman, uh, bring a, a vehicle to campus. Yeah. Wow.
Speaker 2:Okay. And then is there always parking available if students purchase a permit,
Speaker 6:If they purchase a permit, they're guaranteed a spot to now that, um, that means for our, our residential students, we know how many spaces we have and how many permits we can sell to, to fill those spaces. Right. So, um, if they buy a permit, they'll have a place. So if you're a commuter student and, um, you don't have 24 hour, um, privileges to park overnight, things like that, right. It's daytime parking. Um, those are, um, sold a little bit differently. Um, we'll sell more permits than we actually have physical parking spaces for, but that's because through the years, we've, we've kind of studied the trends and know that not everybody's gonna obviously park all the same at the same time all the time. Yeah. Um, but what they need to do as a commuter student is understand that, um, they don't have a particular lot. They have a group of commuter lots, so they might not always be able to park outside the building that they wanna park, uh, in front of or behind or whatever the case is. But there might be a parking lot across the street that, uh, is valid for their permit. The thing to thing to do is make sure before you buy a permit, you know what you're buying and know what that's good for. That's, that's, there's good point. There's a lot of information out there that, uh, students can look at prior to making the purchase and they, we actually have it set up. So they have to agree that they have looked at that whether they do or not, I don't know, but they should be looking at that and agreeing to that terms of that those permits, which describes when they can park, where they can park and everything else that they need to know about that. So they have got, you know, they got the opportunity to know exactly what they're purchasing.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I can tell you from, from a commuter, I've never had a problem finding a parking space. And like you had said earlier, some days are just hopping on campus. It's really busy. And maybe the lot that I typically go to is filled, but guess what? There's a lot right across the street. So I'm inconvenience none
Speaker 6:My point. Exactly. And as you, um, S start your parking experience on campus, you get to know the times that you might not be able to get into a particular lot. Right. Um, the lot behind the Jarvis science wing is very popular.
Speaker 2:Exactly the
Speaker 6:Lot. It serves a huge complex between the science wing and the arts building and everything in between. Right. Right. Um, that lot tends to fill up first. And if you get there at a certain time and you get there at a certain time every day, and, you know, you can get in there then great. But if you know that at 10 o'clock on a Wednesday, I can never get in there. I always tell people, then just save the time and go across the street. It's not that much for a other. It's not, um, you know, it saves time going up and down the road to find maybe the one spot, but probably not depending on how lucky you are. And, uh, just save that time and, and just plan on parking across the street where there's always, you know, a spot open or two,
Speaker 2:We've heard a few things people wanna know just about vehicle safety on campus. Do you wanna talk about that just a bit?
Speaker 6:Well, I can, uh, talk to you a little bit about that. Um, these parking lots are all open, um, available for anybody to come in and out of, and, you know, whether it's foot traffic or vehicle traffic or whatnot. Um, but we do have on campus of course, or 24 hour, um, uh, patrol staff, FLER police department, that's dedicated to the, uh, UW stout community. So we're our own police department. We focus on our own areas, our own lands, buildings, people, uh, the entire community. Um, that includes our parking lots. Okay. Um, we also have, um, you know, student community service officers that do, um, some parking enforcement, but there are eyes and ears in the parking lots as well. Yeah. Cuz that's where they're focused when they're driving around and they're looking for violators, but they're also, um, calling in anything that looks suspicious. Um, we are in the process of adding some, um, security cameras to some of our lots nice to assist in that matter. Uh, you know, something that we've, we've talked about over the years, but, um, now we're, we've got the ability to do that. So some of our bigger lots, uh, we'll start to be, uh, on their surveillance, uh, um, um, for security purposes. Okay. Um, so hopefully that'll help us out. Yeah. Overall, we don't see a huge amount of crime in our parking lots. Um, you know, there was a, a time, you know, a year, year and a half ago that we saw a string of cataly a converter. And that was a, a hot topic everywhere. It wasn't just our lots and it wasn't even just at night, they were doing this during the day, you know, daytime populated parking lots. It was our lots, it was, you know, other schools,
Speaker 1:I sat on the Mone Facebook page
Speaker 6:Hospital.
Speaker 7:It was, it was all over.
Speaker 6:So that was a big deal. It's kind of that that's kind of calmed down a little bit for whatever reason. We haven't seen anything like that. Um, but our biggest issue, I would say, um, you know, that we've seen overall throughout the years is some criminal damage. Um, as people have gone through there and some of it's been targeted, some of it's been random, but, um, I, I wouldn't say that we have a huge problem with crime in our parking lots right now. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And there's always a way to reach out if someone notices something suspicious. So before we close this segment, I think it'd be nice to let our audience know what a student should do. If they do notice up think suspicious or something has been stolen or damaged, what should they do?
Speaker 6:It's quite simple. And, and, uh, nationally, you've heard this probably before. If you see something say something. Yeah, definitely. And I always add to that, say it right away. Yeah. Yeah. And that goes for, you know, suspicious activity in the parking lots in the residence halls anywhere, or you're out in public at, at a restaurant or movie theater or whatever the case may be. If you see something, say something, if you think it's suspicious or if you think even remotely, think, gosh, I wonder if I should call the police, that's your cue to do so. Yeah. Yeah. If you're thinking about it, they've already, your mind has already gone there. So that means you should probably consider it. It's not wrong if you call the police and it turns out to be nothing, or it turns out to be something that we can't do anything about or whatever the case, it, it doesn't matter. Yeah. We'd rather have someone call and be wrong, then someone not call and later wish they had. Yeah. And when I say right away, there's a lot of people that tell us about things in a day and a half or two days, or maybe even a week later. And sometimes that means the difference of being able to solve a, a crime or not. Okay. Um, and they can call us directly. They don't have to go through their, um, instructors or the Dean of students or housing or anything. If, if, if there's something happening that we need to know about, we're here 24 7. Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's the difference.
Speaker 6:There are times that we're happy to hear from a student, you know, in the middle of the night, I didn't wanna bother anybody. Well, we've got someone here just waiting to be bothered. Right. That's what we do. So, and that's, and that's the message. We try to get out to our community. Um, as we, um, mingle with, you know, students, faculty, and staff, um, we want them to get to know us, get comfortable with us and trust us. And we know if that happens, they're more likely gonna call us if they know who's coming.
Speaker 1:I like seeing at you and other officers around campus and in buildings and getting lunch. I mean, it's just nice to know that you're part of the community that you're not just over here. I like exactly what you just said. You're definitely doing that on campus, which I,
Speaker 6:Well, that's important. And I'm glad it's, it's noticed. And, and we do get a lot of positive feedback about the way we, we do our business on campus. Yeah. And coming out of co of it where we really couldn't do that for a couple years that, uh, uh, it's really been nice to, to get out again in the community and, and feel safe about it. And, and, uh, actually, um, interact with people a lot more cuz we, we, we missed it and we, we can tell the difference when we yeah. Um, certainly don't have those opportunities just to, to be with the community.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Well, thank you so much, chief SP for joining us today, we really appreciate all the information on parking and campus safety.
Speaker 6:Well, thank you for having me and I, I just love the opportunity any time to, to reach out to the community.
Speaker 2:We wanna thank all our guests for joining us today and sharing such amazing information. Certainly we're gonna link a lot of details in the show notes. So if you do have additional questions, concerns, links in the show notes. Rachel tell people where they can find us.
Speaker 1:Yeah. If listeners have any good topics for future episodes or if they just wanna connect with us, follow us on social media. Instagram at UW stout picks Twitter at UW stout and by searching university of Wisconsin stout on Facebook and LinkedIn, you can subscribe to inside stout on apple podcasts, Spotify and Google podcasts. We'll see you next time. When we share even more stories that go inside stout.