SAN DIEGO – BYU-Idaho seniors Ashley Pixton, Becca Smith, and Sara Shirley took first place in LandCare’s inaugural Case Competition, a case study in which college students had to solve a landscaping challenge based on a specific branch scenario.
Under the guidance of four branch managers at LandCare, students from around the country assembled written and visual presentations of their solutions. The winners were invited on an all-inclusive trip to present their solutions at LandCare’s Account Manager Leadership Conference in Orange County, California, where they were each awarded with $1,000 scholarships and a bonus trip to Disneyland.
“It was nice to have insight into a real company’s challenges as opposed to having a classroom discussion on a theoretical situation,” said Ashley Pixton, horticulture student at BYU-I. “Getting to come and present our findings to the head of the company was a really exciting incentive and it motivated us to put our best foot forward."
Next year, LandCare hopes to grow the competition by inviting more colleges and universities to participate. “There’s such a wealth of talent at the university level that we have yet to expose to our industry,” said Tim Martinez, executive vice president at LandCare and creator of the LCCC. “Having the opportunity to engage these students and see what they can come up with is really fun and ultimately important for supporting and encouraging the next generation of landscapers.”