The Horticultural Research Institute (HRI), the research division of the American Nursery & Landscape Association (ANLA), recently awarded four of its 2006 scholarships.
The 2006 - $2,000 Carville M. Akehurst Memorial Scholarship has been awarded to Hannah Braycki.
Hannah Braycki of Lynchburg, VA. enters her junior year this fall as a Landscape Horticulture major at the Unity College in Unity, Maine. Braycki’s interest in horticulture was nurtured by her work at her parent’s retail garden center, The Great Outdoors Garden Center in Lynchburg. She has been involved with all aspects of her family business from planting and digging trees, customer service, to financial accounting. Braycki is a participant in the Women’s Environmental Leadership program at Unity College as well as member of the Campus Improvement and Constructive Activists Club.
The Carville M. Akehurst Memorial Scholarship was established in 2002 by HRI and the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show, Inc. (MANTS). This scholarship serves to memorialize Mr. Carville M. Akehurst who served the horticultural industry as one of the founders of MANTS. MANTS, an association formed from the state nursery and landscape associations of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, together with HRI, have established this scholarship with the belief that the strength and future success of the horticulture industry lies in the solid education of today’s students.
HRI has awarded the 2006 — $2,000 Usrey Family Scholarship to Susan Malisch.
Malisch of San Louis Obispo, Calif. will be a senior this fall at Cal Poly State University. She has majored in Environmental Horticultural Science with a minor in Soil Science. Malisch acquired an interest in horticulture from her joy of gardening and observing how plants in the natural world originate. She is a member of the Cal Poly State University Environmental Horticultural Science Club as well as a member of the California Native Plant Society.
Susie and Bruce Usrey of Monrovia Growers Inc. in Azusa, Calif., established the Usrey Family Scholarship in 2001. The Usrey family considers graduating students in horticulture to be the lifeblood of the green industry. The scholarship is awarded annually to horticulture students enrolled in a California state university or college.
Skyler C. Westergard has landed HRI’s 2006 - $2,000 Spring Meadow Scholarship.
Westergard is enrolled at Brigham Young University in Rexburg, Idaho. Westergard is majoring in Horticulture with an emphasis in Landscape Design/Build and Business Management as a minor. In 2005, he completed an internship at Bailey Nurseries, Inc. in Yamhill, Ore. and is currently working as a horticulture teacher’s assistant at his university. Westergard is a member of the Phi Theta Kappa International Honors Society and the Metus Topiarius Horticulture Club at Brigham.
Bright, well-trained and qualified people are essential to the nursery industry, which is the reason Dale and Liz Deppe of Spring Meadow Nursery initiated The Spring Meadow Scholarship Fund in1999. This fund is dedicated to helping aspiring students from across the country obtain a degree in horticulture. It is also Spring Meadow’s way of giving back, and sharing with others the excitement for plants and the nursery industry.
HRI has awarded the 2006 Timothy Bigelow and Palmer W. Bigelow, Jr. Scholarship in the amount of $2,500 to Linda M. Justin.
Justin is a junior this fall at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, R.I. where she is majoring in Environmental Horticulture. After a three-year battle against Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Justin decided to pursue her long desire to work with plants and within the green industry. Justin is a Rhode Island Certified Horticulturist and an employee at The Farmers Daughter in South Kingstown, R.I.
The Bigelow Scholarship was created in 1988 by the Palmer W. Bigelow family of Bigelow Nurseries in Northboro, Mass., to aid students from New England who seek a career in horticulture. The scholarship is dedicated to one of the family's children, the late Timothy Bigelow, and to Palmer W. "Bill" Bigelow, who died in 1997. The Bigelow family considers student scholarships the most important commitment that the horticultural industry can make to ensure the growth and development of the nursery and landscape industry.
Scholarship applicants must be enrolled full-time in a horticulture or related program and must be residents of New England. Those interested in applying should visit the HRI website at www.anla.org/research.
Founded in 1962, HRI has directed more than $4.2 million of industry funds to some 600-research projects covering the full range of production, environmental and business issues important to the trade. HRI distributed $335,000 in grants and scholarships for 2006. Those wishing more information about HRI grant programs or making a gift to HRI should contact Teresa Jodon at 202/789-2900 or fax 202-789-1893.