If you went by his title alone, you might think that master gardener David Prellwitz’s job was simply to maintain and beautify the grounds at Western Michigan University.  

You’d be wrong. 

Prellwitz, who has worked at Western Michigan University for more than a dozen years, is a lot more than a gardener. He is an advocate for students in need, a university ambassador, and a voice for his fellow AFSCME Local 1668 members. 

Though he doesn’t wear a jersey, he is a WMU Bronco through and through. 

Yvonne Johnson works in dining services at WMU. When she started in 2014, she worked alongside Prellwitz when he was a cook. She describes him as “a super positive individual.” 

Johnson calls Prellwitz a real “go-getter” who exudes a spirit of giving in everything he does.  

“He’s always thanking everyone for their work and their generosity,” says Johnson. “He’s very team-focused and always encouraging people.” 

That’s why she nominated him for AFSCME’s Never Quit Service Award. 

Prellwitz started at WMU as a line cook, worked his way up to sous chef, then made the jump to landscaping, where he also worked his way up from groundskeeper to master gardener.  

It’s a role that lets him do what he is most passionate about: engaging with the WMU community.   

“We see the faculty, the staff, students, prospective students and their families,” he says. “We see the entire community.” 

But engaging with his community involves a lot more than giving directions to a prospective student or saying hello to a professor.  

Prellwitz chairs his local’s community service committee. He has helped lead their efforts to stock an on-campus food pantry that the university runs to ensure no students go hungry. Prellwitz and members of his local donate food and also receive items from community members through partnerships they have forged.  

“It’s grown from two shelves to a small grocery store.”  

There’s also the initiative to support foster students in the Seita Scholars Program at WMU, which started in 2008. As Prellwitz explains, for some students who come through the foster system, arriving on campus may be the last time they have contact with their guardians. 

But thanks to Prellwitz and his fellow Local 1668 members, they always have someone there for them at WMU. 

“We help them with move-ins and provide them with move-in packs. And we throw a big holiday dinner for them.”  

Prellwitz loves seeing the looks on the faces of those students when the university opens the doors to one of the homes that it owns, and students are treated to a special meal cooked by Local 1668 members.  

“They’ve never seen anything like this. They’re just in awe that our members plan everything.” 

Add to that the annual highway clean-up project and other initiatives, and you can see why no single job title truly encapsulates Prellwitz’s role on campus.  

While Prellwitz says that these initiatives involve his entire local, he is glad that he’s able to lead their efforts to give back to the WMU community.  

“We’re some of the first people students see in the morning and some of the last people they see before bed,” he says.  

It’s a special feeling when former students come back to campus with children of their own, and he gets to meet them. 

“We’re their family away from home.”  

Every day, Prellwitz reminds the members of his local: “Without our students, we wouldn’t be here taking care of them, the campus and the local community.” 

Which is exactly what Prellwitz loves about his job.