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Photo by Andy Atkinson Chris Wagner, center, and Mary Jo Mongan, right, work on digging up old roots above Lithia Park, while Eric Cowden removes some brush Sunday afternoon. All three are Southern Oregon University students earning money and experience as part of the Regional Ecosystem Applied Learning Corps, an academic and community service program. SOU students earn and learn Real work with REAL Corps By DAVID PRESZLER ASHLAND -- Saturdays and Sundays are sacred days for the college student. They are reserved for sleeping in, socializing and, if absolutely necessary, studying. But every other weekend two dozen Southern Oregon University students trade school books and slumber for shovels and sweat as part of the Regional Ecosystem Applied Learning Corps (REAL Corps), an academic and community service program. Chris Wagner, a junior working toward degrees in botany and environmental studies, is among them. She spent Sunday trudging on a hillside above Lithia Park, brushing aside the vines and uprooting highly flammable scotch broom in a fire fuel reduction project. Though plugging away in the classroom and caring for her son provide plenty for her to do, the 28-year-old single mother enjoys the work and expects it to pay off when she enters the job market. "I wanted the hands-on experience,"says Wagner. "I've had friends that graduated with environmental science degrees and they couldn't get anything. It's very competitive. "Usually, (employers) ask for two years' experience. So this is one." Founded in 1997, REAL Corps is similar to the AmeriCorps program and partially funded by a grant from it, the Corporation for National Service and Learn Service America. In exchange for a year of community service, students are paid a modest living allowance and earn educational vouchers that can be put toward student loans or tuition. It is one of 15 AmeriCorps-type programs nationwide run by a college or university and the only one in which students are doing hands-on environment science work, according to program director Bill Fleeger. SOU has formed partnerships with the Rogue River National Forest and a number of other land management agencies. The agencies supply both financing and project ideas. "We run the gamut from grunt-and-groan work to some pretty sophisticated projects," says Fleeger, who spent eight years with the U.S. Forest Service before joining SOU's staff to run the program. "They get a feel for the broad spectrum of things that are dealt with in resource management." In its second year, the group has tackled a number of fire fuel reduction projects like the one at Lithia Park. Workers were supposed to spend Sunday clearing a fuel break on the White Rabbit Trail, but snow drove them to lower elevations. The REAL Corps have also done salmon and habitat surveys for Oregon Trout, built a 41-foot timber bridge to connect two trails for the Jacksonville Woodlands Association and done community outreach work on a pending erosion and sediment survey for the Trail Creek watershed project that they'll help complete this summer. The program goes beyond simply putting the students to work on a project. For example, they have designed a trail system for Emigrant Lake and will build it this summer. "Students get to do things from the top down," Fleeger says. "Not only did they design it, they get to implement it." Students also take a class that meets for four hours each Friday to study the legal, social and ecological aspects of land use and management. Though the curriculum and projects are geared toward environmental science, the program draws young men and women studying a variety of subjects -- everything from business to English. Shane Teubert, a 22-year-old criminology major in his senior year, says the chance to work outside and learn about ecology drew him. "I just enjoy working out in the forest," he says. "It's interesting to me." Alex Irving, a 20-year-old environmental studies major, has been with the program throughout its 18-month existence. "I had such a good time and I learned so much that I just felt I could continue learning," says Irving of his choice to return for a second year. "I'd never done any work like this before I got into the program. It's a great introduction." The program's six full-time members -- who must be part-time SOU students -- work 1,800 hours to earn $8,800 to live on and a $4,725 voucher. They work weekdays year-round and every other weekend to coordinate with part-time members during the school year. The 18 part-time members -- full-time SOU students -- work 950 hours to earn $4,170 to live on and a $2,363 voucher. They work every other weekend and full time during the summer. Though the money helps, those in the program say the experience is more valuable -- to both the mind and the resume. After finishing her biology degree last spring, Kara King wasn't sure whether to head for veterinary school, graduate school or the job market. She says the program helped clarify things for her. "It's gotten me a lot more focused on which direction I want to go," says the 22-year-old. She's decided she likes working in the woods more than the lab and says the program will help make that happen. "I applied for a job with the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) and I was qualified in schooling but I didn't have enough experience. So this has been really good for me." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA