Curtiss Hall will be beautified next spring, courtesy of the students of Agricultural Education 315.

Agricultural Education 315 is a class designed to learn principles and practices in planning, developing, conducting and evaluating leadership programs in agriculture, said Cary Trexler, assistant professor of agricultural education and studies. Trexler is the instructor for the course.

Right now, the students are busy preparing their fall service project of planting thousands of perennial bulbs around Curtiss Hall.

“Curtiss Hall was chosen because it is the head building of the Department of Agriculture,” said Jen Holtkamp, senior in journalism and mass communication and student in the class. “Dr. Cary Trexler suggested the building because it’s easily visible and such a beautiful building.”

Trexler said she believes that by doing this project, the students have a more concrete understanding about management concepts.

“The students are learning leadership skills through a service-learning project, while adding the beauty of Curtiss Hall,” he said.

Ten thousand bulbs of red, yellow and blue daffodils, hyacinths and tulips will be planted the second weekend in November, the results of which will not be seen until next spring.

“The plants are obtained through donations of money or bulbs by local businesses,” Holtkamp said.

The class is working with Facilities Planning and Management on where they can plant and what flowers grow best in which locations, Holtkamp said.

“The flowers will be arranged according to aesthetics and amount of sunlight available,” she said.

Holtkamp views this class as very important.

“Actually seeing different leadership styles develop and watching the process of the group interaction is much more effective than copying overheads,” Holtkamp said. “It’s a great opportunity to accomplish a major task without any resources to begin with.”

The class is broken up into smaller groups, each in charge of a part of the project.

“Some [are] doing donations, public relations, sketching layouts, ordering bulbs or budgeting,” Holtkamp said.

The class is open to all majors, and there are no prerequisites.

“People are leaders all over. We are leaders in the workplace and in our communities,” Trexler said. “This class is important because we will all be leaders at some time in our life.”

The group needs to raise a minimum of $2,500 to perform its task. As of Monday, $500 had been collected.

“We’re contacting local, small businesses, talking to professors in the College of Agriculture and asking agricultural student organizations to donate money,” said Sharon Hotz, sophomore in agricultural studies.

If you are interested in donating to the class, please contact Hotz at 432-8220 or by e-mail at [email protected].