ONLA hosts second Ohio High School Landscape Olympics

Pictured above: Ohio Hi-Point Career Center students from Bellefontaine, Ohio, received first place in the competition. Photo courtesy of ONLA.

WOOSTER, Ohio – The Ohio Nursery and Landscape Association welcomed 250 high school students from across the state for its second annual Ohio High School Landscape Olympics (OHLO) Nov. 2 and 3 at OSU ATI.

High schools and career centers with horticulture programs participated in the event, which is an education competition where students could test their skills to learn more about a career in the green industry.

Students from 20 schools competed in 10 competitions throughout the event. OHLO 2017 began with a pizza party on Nov. 2 to welcome the students. A career exploration event with more than 25 companies gave students the opportunity to meet with green industry leaders and learn more about careers available to them in the industry. The event ended with an awards ceremony Nov. 3.

Competitions included topics such as sales presentation, irrigation, truck and trailer operation, skid-steer operation, cost estimation, hardscape installation, compact excavator operation, landscape maintenance, landscape plant installation and plant identification.

Participating schools included Ashtabula County Technical and Career Campus, Auburn Career Center, Buckeye Career Center, Cleveland Botanical Gardens, Delaware Area Career Center, Gates Mills Environmental Center, GlenOak High School, Jackson High School, Knox County Career Center, Mahoning County Career Center, Marysville High School, Ohio Hi-Point Career Center, Patrick Henry High School, Penta Career Center, Portage Lakes Career Center, Talawanda-Butler Tech, Tolles Career & Technical Center, Trumbull Career and Technical Center, Upper Valley Career Center and Wayne County Schools Career Center.

The following ranked as the top five teams in the event:

1. Ohio Hi-Point Career Center

2. Knox County Career Center

3. Jackson High School

4. Auburn Career Center

5. Talawanda-Butler Tech

The following were listed as the top 10 individual participants in the event:

1. Ben Vucelich, Delaware Area Career Center

2. Grant Kessler, Marysville High School

3. Blake Kessler, Marysville High School

4. Stephen Dunham, Ohio Hi-Point Career Center

5. Zac Gordon, Upper Valley Career Center

6. Joe Arms, Knox County Career Center

7. Kobe Heckman, Jackson High School

8. Nolan VanBrunt, Jackson High School

9. Jacob Schulte, Talawanda-Butler Tech

10. Max Zugan, Auburn Career Center