NDSU Horticulture and Forestry Club students competed in the 2017 National Collegiate Landscape Competition sponsored by the National Association of Landscape Professionals at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, March 16-18. It is the largest national competition and career recruitment event for college students studying horticulture and landscaping, with more than 800 students from 60 universities and colleges competing in 29 events.
Students demonstrated their skills in tree climbing, hardscaping, identifying horticulture specimens, skid steer operation, sales presentation, exterior/interior design, irrigation troubleshooting and wood construction. NDSU ranked 20th of 60 national teams.
The team of Garrett Schumacher, horticulture major from Heron Lake, Minnesota, and Trevor Zens, landscape architecture major from Aberdeen, South Dakota, took second place in the Truck and Trailer Operation event. Zens also ranked in the top 1 percent overall of students who competed as Superstars, an award category where students compete in five events.
Horticulture student Connor Hagemeyer, from Clara City, Minnesota, ranked in the top 5 percent in Annual and Perennial Plant Identification and in the top 6 percent in Woody Ornamental Plant Identification.
Horticulture students Hagemeyer; Torie Jones from Bowdon, North Dakota; Andrew Scheldorf from Chokio, Minnesota; and landscape architecture major Emily Schoenrock from Maple Grove, Minnesota, each received one of 53 scholarships handed out by the National Association of Landscape Professionals Foundation.
NDSU also won a $500 award for next year’s competition expenses. Hunter and Ewing Irrigation sponsors the award, which recognizes teams with the highest participation in the Career Development Series.
The NDSU Horticulture and Forestry Club is advised by faculty members Todd West and Harlene Hatterman-Valenti.
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