WESTERVILLE, Ohio – More than 250 Ohio students competed for green industry honors during the Ohio Nursery and Landscape Association’s fourth annual Ohio High School Landscape Olympics earlier this month.
Student teams from 18 Ohio schools battled it out at The Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute in Wooster. They competed in a series of hands-on competitions involving landscape installation, equipment operation, maintenance, irrigation, cost estimating, sales and other relevant projects.
The annual event has helped numerous young leaders navigate green industry careers, including those like Zachary Gordon, who competed in 2016 and 2017 on the Upper Valley Career Center team and now returns to help coach students.
"The students who are here have a great opportunity to learn about the industry and fall in love,” said Gordon, who works as a landscape operations manager for MGZ Lawn & Grounds Care in Dayton, Ohio, and is currently pursuing a landscape design degree. “They also get access to great job opportunities. By speaking with the companies who are here, some of them may even leave with job offers.”
The top three team awards were presented to Ohio Hi-Point (first), Upper Valley Career Center (second) and Jackson High School (third). The top three individual awards went to Keegan Minard (first) and Braden Scheetz (second) of Jackson High School, and Gage Sheeley (third) who attends Ohio Hi-Point. A full list of team, individual and competition-specific winners can be found at onla.org.