1981_10 The Daily Collegian October 1981

              Paga 4/Octotoer 2,1981—Dally Collegian
Blooming business
Student flower arrangements make cents for Ag Foundation
By Diana Drury
Design Editor
The phone rings and Dr. Cary Koch
excuses himself, muttering under his
breath, 'Please, not another wedding* s
It seems a strange comment coming
from a professor in the Department of
Plant Science and Mechanized Agriculture, but one look at his desk provides a due to his curious statement.
Floral tape, wires, ribbons and nylon netting overflow from boxes.
The decorative paraphernalia are
the tools of the trade; tools which
Koch and 10 of his students use in creating floral arrangements for a wide
variety of occasions.
This weekend, Koch and his gang
have five weddings. In order to get it
done they will start work on Thursday
and "work and work and work" until
Saturday.
Last year, the crew "said it with
flowers" at 18 to 20 different occa
sions. This year, they have roughly 20
booked through the month of November. One wedding is already scheduled In April.
'At first, it (the business) was all
within the university. Then people told
people in town. Now the phone is ringing 14,000 times a day,' Koch smiled.
But not every week has five weddings. Koch admits the business fluctuates.
For this week, however, business is
blooming, and Koch ordered eight
bunches of roses, two cases of leather
fern, 10 bunches of daisy pompons, IS
miniature carnations, 20cymbidium,
10 regular carnations, 100 stems of
gladiolas, four bunches of cornflowers
and "a whole mess of other things,'
hesaid.
The students who work on the project receive two units of credit, but
next year the course will offer three
units to students who enroll under
Florist Shop Practicum. Koch says he
plans for one hour of lecture and six
hours of lab work, but if business
keeps up, he might have to add more
lab hours.
'We don' t charge what a florist
charges. We don't offer all the services, either,' said Koch. 'We usually
don' t deliver. Our work is not the best
in town but it's better than some."
The 'CSUF Floral Shop' isn't the
only fund-raising project generated by
the department.
Dr. Arthur Olney grows indoor
plants. Each month, the Ornamental
Horticulture Club has a plant sale on'
campus. A rent-a-plant project is
another money-maker for the group.
Depending on size, plants are rented
on a weekly basis ranging from 50
cents to $4.
Christmas sparks yet another project for the department. Christmas .
wreaths are made and sold for S6 and
$8. A time-consuming project, students raised $200 last year.
All money generated from these
projects goes to the Ag Foundation,
which in turn, gives three scholarships
to students each semester. The department also gets a certain percentage of the revenue back.
Surplus money helps to buy equipment. Last year a drip irrigation system was purchased to water chrysanthemums grown at CSUF.
'The money also helps us pay for
student labor In the ornamental horticulture unit,' said Koch. *"'
He stressed that the project was devised to provide experience to students. Many get caught up in the circle of not being able to get a job because they don' t have experience, and
having no experience because they
can't get a job.
"We' re not out to make a mint, but
to teach the student how to do different arrangements," he said.
And experience is exactly what several students will be getting as they
wrap wires, tie bows, tie streamers
and arrange flowers in preparation for
the five weekend weddings.
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Dally Collegian-October 2,1B81 /Page 5
-i
Student nursing...it's a way of life
By Denlce A. Rio*
Staff Writer
Ann Zellmer, a student nurse
at CSUF, sits at one of the five
nurse's stations on the second floor
of Saint Agnes Medical Center.
She discusses a patient's chart with
one of tbe registered nurses, then
looks up with a frown.
"Is there life after first semester
nursing?" she asks with a note of
frustration in her voice.
On the other side of town, Tamara
Edwards, a senior studying ob-
sjtentrics, looks drained as she walks
into the waiting room of the doctor's
office where she works.
'Would you believe I 've observed
two births this morning?' she asks.
'One was at 2 a.m., the other was at
5:30a.m. I'm exhausted.'
Zellmer and Edwards have
entirely different reasons for entering the nursing program - on
campus.
Zellmer, 29, came here with a
degree in community health education. She said she decided to go into
nursing when she could-not find
employment with the degree she
had.
*l didn't have job-getting power,' said Zellmer, a sophomore.
"On my first interview, 40 people
showed up. I believe as an RN I'll
havemore flexibility getting a ibb.*
Zellmer should have no trouble
finding employment If the current
trend in nursing continues.
'The demand for nurses in all
areas is tremendous, both locally
as well as nationally,' says.Karen
Nishio, who has taught nursing at
CSUF for 18 years.
She said the Department of
Nursing, which held its first dass in
September of 1958, receives numerous applicants each semester,
but only 55-68 students will be
accepted.
'We have the potential for
growth," she says, 'if we had more
"faculty and facilities to accommodate them.'
Nishio says the majority of
applicants are selected on the basis
of their CPA, which must' be a
minimum of 2.8. She says 62 students were admitted this fall.
Zellmer, who wants to teach
health, said nursing will give her the
quality background she demands of
herself.
Nurses are no
longer considered
'doctor's little
helpers.' \^
Edwards is in the nursing department's Senior Focus Program,
■ """'which allows -students to participate
in a clinical setting of their choice.
Edwards says she chose obsten-
trics because she has always loved
babies.
'I've always thought it's such a
miracle'to have a baby," she says,
adjusting herself to a more comfortable position in the straw chair
of the doctor's office. 'My eyes
were this big around when that
baby was born this morning,' she
said, making exaggerated circles
around her green eyes.
She says the birth was a family
event, and the mother had her other
children awakened to see the baby
being bom. (The doctor Edwards
works for specializes in home
births.)
'It was really quiet,* says Edwards. 'And when the baby was
born, it was given to the mother
right away because bonding (between the child and mother) is
very important.
'That baby was so pink and
alert,' she. says, a soft smile appearing on her face.
Edwards says there is a certain
amount of comfort for some women,
when the baby is born at home.
*ln the hospital, you've got a
thousand people telling you what
to do," she says, 'and you don't
recognize any of them. At home it
is strictly a family event.*
Just as Edwards is becoming
familiar with the relationship
between staff and patient, Zellmer
is learning about relationships
between staff members.
Zellmer said the importance of the
nurses in the hospital is becoming
more apparent. She says they are
no longer considered the "doctors
little helpers," but a separate and
vital field to the hospital and medical profession..
She says that in many cases,
nurses have more rapport with the
patients than doctors do because
they have more opportunity to develop it.
Zellmer says she got to test her
understanding of patients' needs
one day last week.
She says part of the student
nurse program involves designing a
care plan for a specific patient each
week. Her patient was discharged
that morning, so she was assigned a
new patient, who unknown to her,
was unable to communicate verbally.
Zellmer credits her
husband with
helping her
keep her sanity.
'I wasn't prepared for ; that,*
Zellmer says. "I was ierrrfled. All
I got were nods." She says, however, that this taught her to communicate in a different way.
'There was a lot more touching
involved because it's more comforting,* she says. 'Patients need'
that to feel more relaxed.*
Zellmer says that students practice on each other before applying
-their newly found knowledge on a
patient. This can provide interesting results.
'Three weeks ago I was the
cleanest person in Fresno,* she
says. 'I had more sponge baths...*
Zellmer credits her husband of
nine years with helping her keep
her sanity while she's in the nursing
program.
"Nursing is not a course of
study,* she says, 'it's a way of life.
He understands this completely,
even when it comes down to making
my lunches and mopping the
floors,' she says with a laugh.
Her day at the hospital begins at
6:30 a.m., when she goes over her
patient care chart with the RNs.
This usually takes a half hour to
complete, then they are ready to
check their patients.
When the students are done with
their clinical education at noon, they
have a lecture period in which they
discuss any clinical problems and
offer moral support to one another.
'It's a demanding program, a
well-rounded program/ says-.
Zellmer. There are times when you
think you are going to collapse
because of the studying or the
clinical education, or both. But the
reality is you're going to have io
get out there and experience them
both.*
Edwards -also,, values the ex-
oerience of on-the-job education.
'There area lot ot things to learn
here that I could never learn in a
book.* she says.
EEdwards says she eventually
wants to become a midwife,' because
'following the ladies through the
pregnancies and seeing the final
product is just overwhelming,"
she says, brushing back her strawberry blonde hair with her hand.
"I would love to share in the joy
and birth of the baby.*