MSU Students Tour California Horticulture and Compete at PLANET Student Career Days
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
MSU Students Tour
California Horticulture and Compete at
PLANET Student Career Days
By Brad Rowe, Associate Professor, MSU
Department of Horticulture
During the last week of March, en route to compete at PLANET
(Professional Landcare Network) Student Career Days at the Pomona
campus of California Polytechnic State University, a group of MSU
students and faculty experienced a dose of California horticulture by
driving down the coast from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
The 2009 MSU PLANET
landscape team above
the hills by the Golden
Gate Bridge in San
Francisco.
June 2009 47
While in San Francisco, we drove across the in the San Luis Obispo area, we toured Sommers
Golden Gate Bridge, hiked to the top of the Wholesale Nursery, Tablas Creek Vineyard and
mountains just north of the bridge, visited The Winery, and Greenheart Farms (a vegetable and
Strybing Arboretum and the Japanese Garden in ornamental plug producer). During the trip
Golden Gate Park, and viewed the green roof on south to Los Angeles we also experienced fields
the California Academy of Sciences. As we drove of artichokes, strawberries, and other salad greens,
south along the coast on Highway One, we went as well as almond, citrus, and olive orchards. It
through Santa Cruz, walked around on Pebble was an educational experience for all.
Beach, had lunch with Clint Eastwood in Carmel, When we arrived in LA it was time for PLANET
hugged a few giant redwood trees, and enjoyed Student Career Days. The four-day event consisted
the vistas along Big Sur. On arrival in San Luis of training workshops, a career fair, and
Obispo, the Cal Poly SLO PLANET team hosted competitions among students enrolled in
us for a BBQ and tour of their arboretum. While horticulture and landscape programs from colleges
and universities across the country. Teams
participated in an array of 26 contests covering
the business and technical aspects of the landscape
industry. Competitive events included Annual
and Perennial Identification, Arboriculture
Techniques, Business Management, Compact
Excavator Operation, Compact Utility Loader
Operation, Construction Cost Estimating,
Exterior Landscape Design, Interior Landscape
Design, Interior Plant Identification, Irrigation
Assembly, Irrigation Design, Irrigation
Troubleshooting, Landscape Plant Installation,
Leadership Skills, Maintenance Cost Estimating,
Bert Cregg tries to hide inside of a giant redwood tree
in Big Basin State Park. The inside of the tree had been
burned out during a wildfire, but the tree survived.
An artichoke field The group toured
outside of Santa Cruz. Sommers Wholesale
Nursery near Paso Robles.
48 The Michigan Landscape™
Maintenance Equipment Operation, Paver
Installation, Pest Management, Safety Management,
Sales Presentation, Skidsteer Operation, Truck and
Trailer Operation, Turf and Turf Pest Identification,
Wood Construction, and Woody Plant Identification.
These events are directly related to the skills
necessary in the horticulture/landscape contracting
industry and validate what we are teaching at
Racheal Climer demonstrates
MSU. The knowledge and experience gained in her arboriculture climbing skills.
preparing and competing can only add to the
professionalism of our industry.
This year’s competition involved 753 students
representing 59 colleges and universities (sort of
a national championship in landscape horticulture).
In total, there were about 1,300 attendees
consisting of students, faculty, and industry
personnel. In the competitive events, MSU
finished 14th nationally. The MSU team was
composed of 14 members of the Horticulture
Club from the Departments of Horticulture,
Landscape Architecture, Plant Biology, and the
Institute of Agricultural Technology. Team members
included Matt Chansler, Racheal Climer, Joel
Franken, Tim Gray, Dan Greiner, Bill Holdsworth,
Zeke Kadish, Linnette Kanitz, Jason Karle, Tamara
Keene, Jamey Martinez, Theresa Miller, Jim
Moylan, Crystal Walton, and team coaches Brad
Rowe, Bert Cregg, Tom Fernandez, and Marcus
Students attend a plant
Duck (in absentia because he is now the father of identification workshop conducted
two newborn baby ducks). by faculty at Cal Poly, Pomona prior
to the competition. There were
a lot of plants to learn that don’t
grow in Michigan.
Strawberry production on Plant geeks Matt Chansler and
raised beds in Pomona. Bill Holdsworth study their
woody plant ID.
June 2009 49
Top MSU performances in individual events
included:
• Jim Moylan, Irrigation Design (1st)
• Team of Jim Moylan and Joel Franken
Irrigation Assembly (4th)
• Crystal Walton, Leadership Skills (4th)
Racheal Climer and Crystal Walton smile after completing
the arboriculture event. Crystal was previously recognized • Jim Moylan, Irrigation Troubleshooting (6th)
as the Outstanding Horticulture Senior at MSU by MNLA at
the Great Lakes Trade Show. • Zeke Kadish, Compact Excavator Operation
(6th)
• Bill Holdsworth, Business Management (8th)
• Team of Jason Karle and Jamey Martinez,
Landscape Maintenance Operations (9th)
• Team of Zeke Kadish and Joel Franken, Truck
and Trailer Operation (9th)
• Team of Joel Franken and Tim Gray, Paver
Installation (10th)
• Zeke Kadish, Compact Utility Loader
Operation (10th)
• Crystal Walton, Safety Management (11th)
• Crystal Walton, Pest Management (13th)
Jim Moylan and Joel Franken
assemble an irrigation system.
Overview of the landscape
plant installation event.
50 The Michigan Landscape™
Top scorers for MSU were Jim Moylan (336
points), Joel Franken (334 points), Crystal Walton
(281 points), Zeke Kadish (272 points), and
Matt Chansler (237 points). Special congratulations
to Jim Moylan and Linnette Kanitz for being
awarded PLANET scholarships worth $1,000.
Team members worked diligently all year raising Zeke Kadish demonstrates
his expertise on a compact
money to finance the trip through Horticulture excavator by digging a trench.
Club activities. Fundraisers included growing
pumpkins during the summer for sale last fall and
their annual Spring Show and Plant Sale. From
their own hard work, the students raised $20,000 Joel Franken and Zeke
to finance the trip. With a team composed of Kadish after displaying
their skills in truck and
mostly underclassmen, MSU has the framework trailer operation.
for a strong team to compete next year in Atlanta.
Brad Rowe’s general research interests include
propagation and production of landscape plants and
their proper use in the landscape. Specific research
emphasis is green roof technology.
Theresa Miller sells a
landscape design to a Bill Holdsworth
mock customer. identifies woody
plants.
Scenic coastline
near Big Sur.
June 2009 51
You can also read
