Two different groups of UWL students recently worked with Clearwater Farm to create business plans for the non-profit organization. On Tuesday, May 3 students proposed their plans to help Clearwater Farm be able to continue its mission of increasing awareness for environmental sustainability. Clearwater Farm is a non-profit organization that was created in 1999 to preserve a 19th century dairy farm for education, recreation and history. Students worked to analyze the organizational structure of Clearwater Farm, and to create a financial sustainability plan for the Farm.

In the fall of 2015, assistant professor Dr. Mary Hamman extended a message to the faculty and staff of UWL. Hamman asked if any people had ideas for meaningful classroom experiences for her students to learn through community businesses. Marjorie Bazluki responded to Hamman’s email about a project with Clearwater Farm. Bazluki is an Instructional Designer at UWL as well as a volunteer and board member for Clearwater. After meeting with Hamman and discussing the needs of the Farm, Bazluki’s project proposal was accepted for the spring semester.

This semester, students have been working avidly alongside Clearwater Farm to create two different business plans. An entire business 230 class was divided into teams, with each team working on various aspects of research that was aimed at addressing the needs of Clearwater Farm. The other plan was created entirely by UWL Students Samantha McClaire and Nick Federspiel. McClaire said that creating the business plan was helpful for her future career and that, “this project gave me the opportunity to apply the economic tools I had learned in class to real issues within an organization.” McClaire continued, “working with Clearwater Farm I learned to assess inefficacies and correct them using economics.” Projects like this really help to provide UWL students with real life application of their studies.

Clearwater Farm has been apart of the community for the last 17 years. Giving most of the food that they grow to the local food basket, Clearwater Farms loves to give back to the community. When asked about the mission of Clearwater Farm Bazluki said, “Our mission is to demonstrate, teach and advocate the sustainable use of natural, architectural, historical and agricultural resources.” Clearwater farm works with local schools and events around the community to promote the physical and spiritual health and well being of the residents of the La Crosse area.

The students of UWL think that this project is a great idea. Not only does a project like this help students and businesses, but also helps to spread important information. UW-L junior Brian Schneider commented on this, “I think environmental sustainability is very important, and this project helps to spread the word.” Schneider stated, “We should listen Clearwater Farm and be conscious of what we do with the environment.”
If you’re interesting in learning more about this project contact Marjorie Bazluki at [email protected] and for more information on Clearwater Farm visit https://www.clearwaterfarm.org