Four years of my life have been dedicated to being a student at UW-Eau Claire and a member of The Spectator staff. I knew I wanted to have a purposeful final article, so while reminiscing on my time, I thought I would highlight some of my favorite spots on campus.
I’ve spent these past four years glued to this campus. I lived on campus for about three years, as a first-year student in the dorms and then resident assistant. I’ve worked on this campus here at the newspaper, for NOTA literary magazine, at the Center for Writing Excellence, as a teaching assistant and as an English departmental intern.
What I’m trying to say is, I’ve dedicated my everything to this university, and through my journalistic eye, I’ve picked up a few spots that have become my favorite places to visit. I’ve also discovered some undercover locations that I want to highlight before leaving.
I don’t want to be too sappy — maybe I’ll save that for the end of the article — but for now, here is a random list of some places on the UW-Eau Claire campus everyone should check out.
The Bird Museum
The James Newman Clark Bird Museum is a somewhat random collection of taxidermy birds in Phillips Hall for students to explore. The Spectator recently highlighted the museum in regards to its eventual move to the new Science and Health Sciences building.
The museum is set up in a semicircle, all surrounding the planetarium. There are dozens of birds, all donated by one person, and it’s such a fun place to look at.
I highly recommend everyone take a look at the museum once while at UW-Eau Claire. There are even some extinct birds in the museum, but they’re all fun to look at and it’s an overall random inclusion that makes UW-Eau Claire unique.
Putnam Trail
Instead of taking the hill, people can turn right on Garfield Avenue and walk Putnam Trail along the river. Starting at Putnam Rock, this trail is the perfect place to go on a nice and quiet nature walk without getting too far away from campus.
This trail has been a dream for me. The amount of random walks by the water while playing calming playlists have gotten me through dozens of stressful weeks and existential thoughts — don’t you hate it when that happens?
Putnam Trail is perfect for a quiet walk alone, either down and back to where you started or taking the trail to the left to reach upper campus by Chancellors Hall.
Hidden Hallways
It might not be the biggest secret, but the hallways that connect McIntyre Library, Vicki Lord Larson Hall and Schofield Hall are the best hack I learned for traveling around campus.
Whether it is raining, snowing, windy or just really hot, these hallways can help you get further around campus and stay out of the elements. Thinking about how close the library is to Davies Student Center and the new science building, you can get so far through these hallways.
Reaching the other end, you get closer to Hibbard Humanities Hall, Centennial Hall and Schneider Hall. These hallways have helped me get around and have just been fun to explore. Scholfield, being the oldest building on campus, just adds some intrigue to a walk to class.
The Spectator Office
This won’t come as a big surprise, but I love hanging out in the newspaper office. It doesn’t hurt that I have my own office in the space to work on editing or hold interviews, but the office itself is a fun place to be in.
Anyone who is a part of The Spectator can use the office. We have a conference room to hold meetings or interviews, five computers to work on, a kitchen area with a microwave, a newly added mini-fridge and just a lot of seating to hang out and get work done.
Maybe it’s the sheer amount of time I’ve spent in this office, but I love the space and can’t talk about my top spots on campus without mentioning it.
I know at this point this might seem like a small list, but for word count sakes, I don’t think I can share anymore. I hope this acts as a reminder to keep an eye out for new and fun spots because who knows how campus will change? While researching for this article, I found a map of campus around 2013-14 and the changes in 10 years is already weird to think about.
I’m grateful for my time at UW-Eau Claire and The Spectator. It’s been so much fun getting to know the campus and community through my roles in the organization. Making my way to Editor-in-Chief was never in the plan, but it became a blessing I didn’t know I would experience.
I want to thank everyone who read this article and whom I interacted with on campus. This has been an amazing four years and it’s so bittersweet to see that time ending. For my last sign off, I just want to say thank you again and make sure to keep snagging a Spec.
Fisher can be reached at [email protected]. At least for now, then connect with me on LinkedIn.
