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BYU-Idaho Horticulture has been attending the landscape industry's "Student Career Days" for years and years now. Each year we've attended our students perform at top-notch. This year was no different. The 39th annual PLANET Student Career Days and National Collegiate Landscape Competition took place March 12-15th, 2015, at North Carolina State University. Over 850 students attended from the nation's top horticulture and landscape programs while competing in over 28 team and individual competitions (http://cals.ncsu.edu/hort_sci/scd/). Our team competed in 28 events overall, and drumroll please. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brigham Young University-Idaho earned the title of National Champion!!!!!!! Everybody involved- students and teachers, put a lot of time into preparing for this and their hard work really showed this year.
The results are as follows:
1 BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY - IDAHO 4139.80 2 MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY 4043.45 3 CAL POLY - POMONA 3819.55 4 COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY 3778.65 5 BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY - PROVO 3708.34 Results for the events our students competed in and placed top 5:
Click here to see more details on the final results. Of the other 15 events our students competed in, most placed in the top 10 and made huge contributions to our overall team score. Our first place win was truly a team effort and we are so proud of each of our team members. One HUGE advantage of attending PLANET and performing well is the opportunity to network within the industry and earn scholarship money for school. Six our students were awarded scholarships this year to fund their horticulture education.
Mississippi State University will be hosting next year and we're already looking forward to spending some time in the south. On March 13, 2015, a few Hort students and Brother Toll travelled down to Idaho Falls to attend a seed seminar, presented by Bill McDorman of the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance.
Our students that attended thought that the seminar would be about how to save seeds. But the focus was more on reasons why you should save seeds and why it's so import. They were able learn about the history of collecting your own seeds and creating your own heirloom seeds. Here are a few more things that our students learned:
The highlight of the evening was before leaving Brother Toll bought gem corn seeds for our students.  Our greenhouse and gardens have always been open to the campus and public for exploration. The horticulture students, alumni, and faculty have known this, but a large percentage of anyone outside of that don't know. In fact, anyone that has worked the Plant Shop in the MC on Fridays can tell you that MANY, many, many students don't even know where the Benson building is. Their knowledge of campus buildings ends at the Taylor Chapel. And while it is common to see people enjoying the beautiful outdoor Thomas E. Ricks Gardens, usually the only people in the greenhouse are horticulture students and faculty and occasionally a student wandering around and asking if it's okay for them to be in there. We’re hoping to change that with our “Explore the Greenhouse” promo. We’ve put this signage up around campus and on the school’s student message feed. We’re not keeping any official tracking system, but we have noticed a few more non-horticulture students trickling through to enjoy the warmth and beauty that the greenhouse offers. And it does have a LOT to offer. Our greenhouse is divided into several [connected] houses, each serving a different purpose.
 At the end of January the Nursery Management class attended the INLA show in Boise, ID. They had a great time meeting with several of the horticulture industry's leaders and innovative thinkers. By attending seminars during the day they were able to learn more about the art and science of horticulture and get more excited about what they study. The show is a fantastic place to network and explore future job opportunities. We are thankful to be a part of it each year, we even have our own booth! It's always fun to talk about what we do over here in Rexburg, ID. The Idaho Nursery and Landscape Association is a wonderful resource to be a part of. See their website for more information. http://www.inlagrow.org/index.html |
Mission StatementOur aim for the Department of Horticulture at Brigham Young University-Idaho is to nurture understanding of both the art and science of Horticulture. Students learn experimentally in the classroom, laboratory, greenhouse, and ten acre Thomas E. Ricks demonstration garden as they pursue an Associates or Bachelors Degree. Using the medium of plants, students develop habits of hard work, enlightened minds, and healthy living that assist in gainful employment opportunitues. Archives
November 2017
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