A dozen fun discoveries on the UWM campus

Student Success Center, residence halls and campus organizations work to provide everything you want to know about UWM.

But you have a lot on your mind, right? It’s hard to remember everything. We’ll help with some highlights of campus opportunities and programs.

Fun – free or cheap

Students enjoy athletic events, arts performances, movies and more on campus. (UWM Photo/ Brian Slawson) — Students enjoy athletic events, arts performances, movies and more on campus. (UWM Photo/Brian Slawson)

You can enjoy athletic events, movies, plays, musical performances, art exhibits and more. Also available: intramural sports, 300+ clubs, and fitness, recreation trips and personal training. Find out more at University Recreation, http://go.uwm.edu/1P4XhNU

A forest runs through it

This spiral garden, just southeast of the "K," was designed and built with help from Professor Jim Wasley and his architecture students. (UWM Photo/Jim Wasley) — This spiral garden, just southeast of the “K,” was designed and built with help from Professor Jim Wasley and his architecture students. (UWM Photo/Jim Wasley)

Get away from it all and refresh your brain in the cool quiet of Downer Woods. This 11-acre mini forest on the northern rim of campus is a unique, urban natural area that’s returning to its origins as a beech maple forest. Used for research and study, it’s also ideal for strolling and contemplating the changing seasons. Or stroll through the native-plant filled spiral garden, south of the Klotsche center. The garden serves a green purpose, filtering more than 12,000 gallons of rainwater from the power plant and keeping it from the sewer system. And take time to enjoy the thousands of mature trees, shrubs and flowering plants – as well as the restored prairies that dot the campus.

Make new, interesting friends

Meet Me Halfway—Milwaukee Stories,” this year’s common read, will introduce new students to the University’s hometown in all its diversity. — Meet Me Halfway—Milwaukee Stories,” this year’s common read, will introduce new students to the university’s hometown in all its diversity.

More than one-third of UWM’s first-year classes are students of color, making UWM one of the most diverse campuses in Wisconsin. The university has a large number of veterans and service members, attracts many international students and was named a 2014 Top 50 LGBT+ friendly university. After getting to know Milwaukee through “Meet Me Halfway: Milwaukee Stories,” this year’s Common Read, students have the opportunity to develop their own diverse group of friends and classmates.

Or just hang out

The Daniel M. Soref Learning Commons combines snacks with study spaces in the "campus living room." Here students line up at the Library Grind. (UWM Photo/Kenny Yoo) — The Daniel M. Soref Learning Commons combines snacks with study spaces in the “campus living room.” Here students line up at the Library Grind. (UWM Photo/Kenny Yoo)

In addition to lounges in residence halls and the Union, there’s a lounge in Bolton Hall for students who commute and need quiet space to study between classes. The campus’s “living room” – the Daniel M. Soref Learning Commons in the Golda Meir Library – has comfy chairs, computers, coffee and snacks and group study rooms: http://go.uwm.edu/1IKOBeG.

Really. Fresh. Food.

Some of the food served in residence halls is grown in campus gardens. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)

Restaurant Operations’ menus are cultivated over months of planning with our very own culinary experts and executed by a team of trained chefs. How about hand-crafted liquid nitrogen ice cream, house centrifuge juices and the use of molecular gastronomy to make caviar from a balsamic reduction? Local products are used when possible, along with ingredients from sustainable campus gardens.

Extra money helps

Finances are among the most common concerns of first-year students. More than 5,500 students work for UWM or off campus. For information on financial aid, military benefits, work-study, special support for student-parents and on-campus jobs, visit http://go.uwm.edu/1KOVlKW.

A campus of volunteers

Do good things. UWM students volunteer 43,000 hours a year, and the university is nationally recognized for its community engagement. For more, visit http://go.uwm.edu/1SKhZsa.

Make friends in a new language

Haneen Amro of Milwaukee chats with Korean student Huikh Lim as part of a onversation partners program that pairs student to learn about each other's language and culture. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox) — Haneen Amro of Milwaukee chats with Korean student Huikh Lim as part of a conversation partners program that pairs student to learn about each other’s language and culture. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)

A number of the language programs as well as the English as a Second Language Intensive English program offer you the opportunity to become conversation partners with a student who speaks a different language. It’s a bonus for students studying a foreign language or who are interested in other cultures and it gives our international students a chance to practice their English. Contact the ESL Office or email convpart@uwm.edu.

Take a bike ride

The League of American Bicyclists named UWM a bronze-level bike-friendly campus and we’re aiming for gold. The university has plenty of bike racks, a repair station and air pumps. Don’t have a bike? In October, Bublr Bikes stations are coming to campus, with free-, one-year passes for UWM students.

Learn from your personal mentor

We offer volunteer peer mentors who work with students, particularly during their first year. Stop by the Bolton Hall office or check out the Student Success Center, http://go.uwm.edu/1UlHXzv

Go on a star trek

Both students and families can enjoy stargazing at the Manfred Olson Planetarium. (UWM Photo)

Stargaze at our Manfred Olson Planetarium, which offers a variety of programs with the free lunchtime Astrobreaks program that runs year-round and inexpensive Friday night shows. For a schedule, visit http://go.uwm.edu/1Dry66X.

And check out our bucket list of 56 things to do before you graduate: http://go.uwm.edu/1rPJRtT.