RALEIGH, N.C. – A future in the green industry was at the top of every student’s list at PLANET’s annual Student Career Days. This year’s event featured 757 students from 65 different schools across the country competing in 28 green industry-related events.
The event kicked off on March 12 at the NC State Fairgrounds where students attended workshops on the events they would be competing in. The Thursday highlight was the receptions, with one being held for faculty and one for students.
Opening ceremonies for Student Career Days took place Friday morning, giving each school the chance to show off their team pride. As each school’s name was read, the students were given time to perform a chant. Some included the school’s traditional cheer, while some teams went as far as rewriting popular songs like Wagon Wheel and Uptown Funk with landscape-related lyrics.
Jeremy Thorne, of ThorneCare Landscape Solutions, was presented with the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Students were given a chance to design a t-shirt for the event, and Alysha N. Lawless of Virginia Tech won for her design. The PLANET Academic Excellence Foundation also awarded 77 scholarships to students at the event, valued at a total of $93,700.
The opening ceremonies also highlighted the sponsors of the event: Platinum sponsor STIHL; Gold sponsor John Deere; Silver sponsors Caterpillar, Gravely, Husqvarna and New Holland; and Bronze sponsors Anchor, Belgard Hardscapes, Brickman, ValleyCrest and Toro.
The competitions themselves started later in the day, with the qualifying and written tests taking place Thursday evening and the competitive events taking place Saturday. To prepare for the events, students had the chance to sit in on workshops, as well as event briefings.
Kelsey Hatesohl, a student from Kansas State University, said she was hoping to learn more and better herself as a member of the industry. “I’m looking forward to going to the workshops and learning about the programs I thought I knew about, and then getting to actually learn more about them,” she said.
Following the closing ceremonies, results for the event were posted online, listed by school and student. Brigham Young University – Idaho came in first, winning them $5,000 from Platinum Sponsor STIHL.
For a complete list of winners, visit the Student Career Days website.
Along with the competitions, one of the highlights of Student Career Days was the career fair that took place during the day on Friday. Companies such as BrightView, Greenscape and Gravely had representatives at booths for students to talk with and interviews were held throughout the day.
Erin White and Jessica Smith of The Fockele Garden Company said they came to the career fair because their company isn’t very well known and they want to look for qualified workers. “I think there’s definitely a push to find more educated employees,” Smith said. “I knew one of the best ways to find someone was to go someplace with a lot of students.”
“As a company, we’re looking for the next best thing,” White said. “We want to become a destination company and advertise to the next generation of landscape professionals.”
While a lot of students were focused on preparing for the competitions Saturday, a good amount were focused on the networking involved with the career fair.
“I’m trying to get some internships to prepare for what it will be like after I graduate,” said Karen Schneck, a student at Kansas State University. “I really want to find a company that I can stay in after I graduate and then make a career out of it.”
“This is an incredible networking opportunity just meeting industry professionals,” said Kevin Boylan, a student from Penn State University. “It’s always nice to compete and stuff but definitely the networking and getting out and meeting some important people in the industry is great, and meeting some of the other students too.”